A Wizard's Misadventure
by Grademaster
Summary: The spin-off sequel to A Wizard's Game, a RWBY fanfiction. Features world-travelling and an OC main character.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: … Hi. So, I didn't think I'd ever post here again, on this story I mean. But a lot of you guys are persistent. Even now, nearly two months after announcing the series as discontinued, you're still PM-ing me. That's some dedication right there. But you finally got to me. I was writing to another PM explaining why I wouldn't write on this anymore when I slowly stopped thinking 'Wow… I'm having a hard time thinking of reasons to say no'. **

**So here I am. This is not, however, AWG. ****THIS IS A SPIN-OFF OF A WIZARD'S GAME.**** Specifically, a sort of jumpchain of sorts, though if you've even been halfway attentive to the story up to this point, you already know the method of world travelling. **

**Next, this fic won't have the little italics dialogues in-between line breaks. I have a suspicion that half of you don't read those and I'd honestly rather just make interludes more common than make a bunch of them. **

**Finally, I made two pretty important polls related to this story. Go to my profile and look at the top of the page for them. I'm going to wait a week before taking it down and uploading more chapters. **

**If you have a profile I'd appreciate it if you would vote on whether to make this a new story and post it elsewhere or leave it here in the AWG story. On one hand I'm not sure how many people will notice a spin-off if I post it in a different story. **

**On the other hand, I'd prefer not to bother you all who follow the story here with notifications about a story that's not truly AWG but a spin-off of it in case you don't want to read this renewal of the story. Let me know, would you? Oh, and I made a second poll for, *ahem*, lemons. About three people have asked for them and I'm not sure whether their opinion represents the majority or not. **

[|||| =**WORLD 2**= ||||]

[|||| =**LEVEL 1**= ||||]

The feeling hit me like a chill up my spine so violent it was almost painful as well as a feeling of something tearing out of me. Thinking I was under attack and caught completely off guard considering I was asleep just a moment ago I rolled out of my bed only to fall onto scorching sandy ground, which I sunk into even as I cloaked myself in a dozen magical defenses. I reached out with my more magical senses, as I was buried under sand, and saw nothing. I looked harder and more thoroughly and saw nothing. Other senses gave me nothing as well. I tried to trigger a teleport back to Beacon but it felt like I ran into a wall. That had never happened before. I tried doing a teleport with void in case I had to break through wardings but the same feeling persisted. What was going on?!

I phased myself out of space and flew upwards before looking around physically. There was… sand. Sand everywhere. But that answered nothing. Was I in Vacuo? Eastern Mistral? Or even far down south?

Flying farther up I made sure to keep the air and pressure around me stable. I briefly considered a space suit but had no idea where I'd get one. I prodded my metal affinity to make a thick suit of steel around me, using my magic to keep the joints flexible. For the faceplate I took out two circles of bulletproof glass I had for constructing weapons scopes and put them near my eyes before melting metal around them so I could see but was entirely covered from radiation. I could probably cure cancer, but I had never tried and this was easier.

I kept going farther up, looking far over the horizon. I was high enough to see the curvature of the planet but it wasn't quite far enough. There was just desert. Besides that, nothing.

Having a moment of something like inspiration or perhaps fear I stored my body in my soul space and teleported myself far out into space. It was then that I saw the planet clearly. It was NOT Remnant. It wasn't Earth either. It seemed completely random, honestly. So I had no idea where I was, and I couldn't teleport back to Remnant… shit.

Though I doubted it would work, I reached out to the greater void and commanded it to bring me back to my Remnant. I felt it respond and felt my soul compress and twist, but when I was released I was still far above the desert planet.

So Remnant was blocked off… how?! There were a - quite literally - infinite amount of Remnant's just like my own! How am I being…

As my mind came to a conclusion I focused my senses on myself. It didn't even take any effort to find what I was looking for. An anchor of some sort was on me made of an affinity I could clearly recognize and braided through it was another affinity I recalled but couldn't remember at the moment. Mind affinity. Somebody was screwing with my head somehow despite all of my precautions and mental defenses. This was literally my worst fear.

After looking through my memories quickly for discrepancies of any sort, I decided that I was as safe as I could be. Nothing related to my identity was tampered with. or if it was, it was neat enough that I'd never find it. Even so, the anchor of mind magic I could detect was inert. It wasn't doing anything at the moment. But I had a good guess of what it was supposed to do.

I grasped the void. Nothing happened. I reached out to the greater void. Nothing happened. I reached out for Remnant and the anchor jerked, tearing at my mind and through my mind the void. As soon as I sent the impulse to transport myself back to Remnant I sent another command to cancel the command, making the void stop transporting me. The process was instant, though, so I had no way of really stopping it.

So that's what the anchor does. Now for the other stuff…

I looked through my memories again, matching all the affinities I had seen. I looked through a few hundred I had seen in the souls of random people before I moved to ones I had once had and were removed when I found my match.

Fate affinity. The stuff that gave people a destiny. I didn't have one anymore, I was pretty sure. I think I had one before I was brought to Remnant, but now I had the FATE system, or just the system as I called it, because some gods had yanked it out of me. Not that the thing was all that useful. I didn't forget the skills I learned and I learned at what was clearly an abnormal pace, but I would have liked the ability to control fate more than a game interface.

At any rate, I had fate affinity on me. Oh boy, I wonder what that does. Just because I was nearly out of options, I tried to turn my void on the anchor of mind affinity. The violent chill hit me again despite my lack of a body as the fate affinity in the anchor pulsed and I hesitated. I brought my void towards the anchor again and the anchor pulsed much harder.

I felt my senses fade to black and my soul shook. I saw blue windows despite my lack of eyes, each with ominous warnings like 'NO', 'STOP OR DIE', and 'YOU ARE BARRED'. Behind them was a flickering stat window, my stat window actually. The numbers I was used to flickered with symbols, some english and some other languages. A moment later the boxes faded and I felt achey.

So it seemed like I couldn't go to Remnant anymore. For the foreseeable future, at least. I had a few guesses as to who it was. Somebody with magic, control over fate affinity, and a reason to exile me from my home… it's either the brothers of light again, or the siblings if the god of light actually was female like Icmant claimed years ago, or it was an alternate version of me. I've met with at least a dozen versions of myself at this point.

Either way I had a problem. I just didn't know how I could fix it.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Hi, Ophis," I muttered as I shifted dimensions. The tiny goddess got up from her sitting position and hugged me for a second before sitting down and looking pointedly at me. I rolled my eyes and filled the room we were in with void. She instantly relaxed and I looked around. I noted the fluffy pink furniture, the fluffy pink walls, and the cat pictures on the wall before I decided to just ignore it all. Whoever owned the place, I didn't want to meet them.

"I have a problem," I said to her. She nodded woozily and leaned back into the eyesore pink couch.

"What?" she said quietly without opening her eyes. Well she was apparently fine and as short as always. It was good to know that Ophis at least wasn't having any problems.

"I have a parasite in my soul," I explained. Ophis' eyes opened a little and she frowned just a little. She must be incredibly alarmed! "It's blocking me from travelling to my home. It's tied to… not my fate but my skills. I can't remove it without losing all my power or possibly destroying my soul."

Ophis blinked at me silently. I waited for her, counting the seconds. I got to five when she sighed lightly. "That's not fair to you," she said discontentedly. I was about to respond when she continued, to my surprise. "It's a binding. You will have to live with it. It will wear off in… centuries. Less than a millennium. It will stay." If possible Ophis looked more tired than before and sunk into the couch, which I noted was so soft that it might actually be uncomfortable for me to sit in.

"There's… no way?" I asked, hating the note of desperation in my voice. Ophis seemed to rally herself, held awake through will alone.

"… Wait," she said.

"… What about time-"

"No," If Ophis had to try before, now she was actually glaring at me, even if only a little bit. From the nearly all-powerful, if childish, goddess it was more intimidating than it should have been. Especially since she was being eaten by the pink couch. "I will not be alone and your binding will not allow it. Wait." I was silent and Ophis took that as her cue to be consumed by the fluffiness of the pink couch. I could only see her nose and a little of her cheeks. Feeling more than a little angry I swiftly cast the enchantment to keep the void in the room for some time and was about to disappear.

"I will look for a way to suppress it. Do not hold out hope." I heard from within the pink couch. I clenched my teeth, despair taking over. My space affinity flexed and I disappeared into thin air.

I needed to talk to somebody.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Nyaa… Do you want some chinese food?" Kuroka, in some dingy apartment she called a safehouse, asked me. I curled myself deeper into the couch I was laying on. I was taking after Ophis' example and drowning my sorrows in fluff. I was already wrapped in at least three large blankets and I didn't care that one of them was barbie doll themed. I was more busy dealing with the fact that I wouldn't see my family again for a long, long time.

I was interrupted from my brooding by two chopsticks poking at my mouth. "Say nyaaaah!" Kuroka said, a teasing tone in her voice but a lot more gentle than normal. After hearing Ophis' news and going through that first night crying into her chest, which I wasn't going to get into, I had been alternating between brooding and quietly talking with her. Besides everyone in Remnant, who did I really have? There was Ophis, Kuroka, and the Pendragons in DxD but I wasn't friends of any sort with the characters in the HP-verse. I barely knew the lady from Tamriel, Ira-something, really all I had was Kuroka and Ophis right now, and Helen, but when I thought of someone to cry with Kuroka was the first person to come to mind.

I had tried reaching out for my family in every way I could think of. I reached for them rather than Remnant, I reached for versions of them wildly different than the norm, I tried astrally projecting myself rather than just moving my soul, I tried looking through the minds of the people I knew through links to their souls, which were still present but so muted as to be useless. I couldn't go to Remnant, I couldn't see into Remnant, and I was all but certain that I couldn't send a third person to Remnant. Pit was gone too, probably the tearing feeling I felt when I first woke up.

"Here," Kuroka pushed something into my cheeks when I made no effort to open my mouth. Noodles, I vaguely recognized. I swallowed them and turned my face downwards. I didn't want to eat. She looked at me with clear concern, worry in her eyes. I kept looking downwards while I felt her her crawl over me. A moment later she was playing big spoon to me on the couch. I didn't want to admit it, but it felt nice.

"Hey…" she whispered. "When I… lost Shirone I wasn't in a good place." I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started paying her more attention.

"I was… kinda messed up," she admitted. "I stole some stuff, broke some more, and cried sometimes… pretty much every night. I beat a few people up looking for fights, and did a lot of running, not all of that just because I had to. I thought 'If I get stronger I can save my sister'. So I got stronger. Lots stronger. But I wasn't happy. I didn't really have anything, you know? I was messed up. Badly. I spent a lot of time like that. Years, I think. I hated it. I hated it so much I made it my goal to never be like that again. That's why I want a family. A huge one, with so many kids I'll never have to be sad if I lose somebody again. Do you get what I'm saying?"

I was silent. My throat hurt. I might be close to crying again.

"But I got better," she continued in the same quiet tone of voice. "People don't do stuff alone. Ever. they've always got somebody in their heart." She reached around the blankets I was cloaked with to poke me right where my heart was.

"I had Shirone in my heart. You've got your family in your heart. Yeah, it hurts. It hurts a lot. I'm not sure if I know exactly what's going on with you but I know you're hurting. Bad. But… are they dead?" I was quiet but then I shook my head a little.

"Then be happy," she said. "Your family is alive and they can live their own long, happy lives with each other. But you? You need a family. Always. Everybody does or they start hurting inside like I did. Like you are. So… start a family. Find friends, lovers, wives, battle buddies, or pets. Family makes you happy. So be happy. Trust your family to be happy…. Now do you see what I mean?" I was quiet. Then I sniffled and realized I was crying a little. I moved myself around to be facing Kuroka and took a deep breath.

"When I was young," I started, "I was… alone. For a long, long time." Memories of the desert, the parents I never really knew, and Summer passed through my mind. "Then I was… found. Adopted. Summer wasn't really a mom but she was family. When she died, I didn't have time to blame myself. I took care of Ruby. My sister. I focused everything on her… I was a little obsessive, going everywhere with her. It was, to me, how I repaid Summer, though I didn't think of it like that. I didn't have to take care of Ruby. I only knew her for a month. But… I was her big brother then. The moment Summer died." I stopped, choking. Kuroka gave me time and pressed her forehead against mine solemnly. It might have been a minute or it might have been five, but I continued.

"I did a lot. I made a company. Got rich. Ruled a city. I got an aunt for her. She was family too. But I think I realized something eventually. I didn't remember my time alone. What little fragments I remember still, I hate. I was tired and angry and alone. I wasn't feeling anything. Not really. But when I got Summer, got a family, I started remembering things. I made memories worth remembering. Happy memories. I got friends, my best friend, a community, and a girl, Pyrrha, even had a crush on me. Now… now they're all gone." With that I finally broke down into real tears. Kuroka reached around me and pulled me closer.

"I'm never going to see my family again," I cried softly. "Ruby's going to grow up and… Pyrrha's going to get married. Jaune's going to grow up and Raven's going to be hurt again. Yang's going to be there for Ruby and everyone… everyone… everyone I know… is going to be so sad…"

By this point Kuroka was crying a little bit too, though my heavy breaths and tears were much worse than her. "Hey Abyss?" she asked, as quietly as before. "Do… do you want a family? Not like… for me but… a family. For… us…" I was quiet and my tears calmed down a little.

"… Yeah… I'd… I'm not…" I sobbed a little, not feeling confident in an answer. Kuroka moved a little and tenderly kissed me. It wasn't loving but it was the most comforting gesture I could ever remember.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"I'm better. Really!" I protested, pushing away the floating hot chocolate. I was lying a little, but compared to two weeks ago I was practically stable. Kuroka had been there for me much more than before, where we only had a physical relationship. Before I had _really_ come to DxD, just dropped by for fun and friends, we had been much more casual lovers. But now that she was one of the people I was closest with I was seriously considering actually dating her. Like… with marriage as a viable option moving forwards.

It was so weird to consider that, but Kuroka had really taken a leap for me when I needed help. I'd say I was closer to her than I was to most people I was on Remnant, barring just a few. And strangely enough, we hadn't even had sex while I was staying with her. She just seemed to know that I wasn't feeling up to it.

Still, visiting Helen and filling her in on the news might have been a bad idea.

"Helen, really!" I warded off the hot chocolate again and it clinked around the spoon in it a little, as though angry I wouldn't accept it. A wave of emotion, an empathetic sadness that screamed 'teary-eyed housewife' coursed through me.

"I-!… Fine." I stopped my protests and snatched the hot chocolate, feeling a little pissy even if I shouldn't have. Helen nearly felt relief as I sipped the admittedly good hot chocolate. I buried that warm feeling deep inside me where she would never find it… I was such a sucker.

I leaned back in my chair only to find that I was somehow sitting on my favorite armchair. I cradled my hot chocolate and sighed as Helen talked to me again, having calmed down a little.

"No, they're not dead. Just… gone," I said to her. I took another small sip. "I woke up and somebody put a… a binding on me. I asked a friend of mine and it's going to go away but it's going to take a long, long time. It's resistant to time-altering magics, apparently. I still might test that, but going forwards the result is the same. My family will be long dead by the time I get back." There was a dark, sad tone to my voice at the end of my sentence and Helen felt another burst of nail-biting concern. "No, no," I waved her concerns away. "I… I'm not great. I know it. But I'm getting better. Two weeks ago I was much worse off. But now I can talk without crying. I don't need a shoulder to lean on all the time now. I'm old, Helen, and I've dealt with this before. I'll get better. I just need time." Helen's concern lessened and I doubted I'd get rid of any more so I changed the subject.

"So how's Dumbledore doing?" I asked. Helen immediately sprung into fiery anger, her concern fading to the background. "That bad?" I felt vigorous agreement. "What's he doing?" I saw images of Dumbledore standing in front of a large goblet as he spoke two solemn words. 'Harry Potter'. Helen's anger, upon seeing the memory once more, rose to a white hot fury at the injustice happening to her students. It was more than somebody rigging the tournament, that they had somehow gotten away with it! I stood a little straighter as I heard a faint rumble and saw stone dust fall from the ceiling. A wave of my hand brushed all the dust away from me.

"Was that around the whole castle?" I asked. Helen sent a confirmation, her anger still hot. "That must not be helping the games." Agreement, and a grudging sort of guilt from her that she was disrupting the Triwizard Tournament. Or, in this case, quad-wizard tournament.

"Hmm… I don't suppose you want help?" Helen perked up and I got an excited sort of pleading. "I will, fine. I need something to do other than just lay around with Kuroka. She has her own business to do, after all." I heard her call the Khaos Brigade three days ago. All she had to do was namedrop me, 'The Apostle', and everybody instantly backed off getting her to attend whatever meeting they were running.

Apparently I was some sort of ambassador of Ophis now to everybody. I already knew that the Underworld thought I was her champion or something, but I didn't know that the Khaos Brigade bought into that. They weren't wrong, though, I was probably the only person Ophis actually listened to.

"So, I'm helping you out with whatever this is" I considered. "So… everyone thinks I'm some sort of hitwizard or… what did they call them? Ahhh, Unspeakables! Yes, that's what they think I am. So I need a badge that shows I actually am one of them, though it doesn't have to be official, just convincing. Then I need to… hm. I guess mentor Harry? It sounds kind of boring though. I suppose it's better than nothing."

Helen sent agreement. _'The contract of the tournament is unbreakable. Even to the unwilling,'_a voice said. I blinked at her using direct speech. She had avoided using it often. She preferred her primal pulses of emotion and sensory information. Formulating speech was awkward somehow for her. I attributed it to her not having a body. I knew from personal experience that real telepathy with just aura wasn't that easy. Conversations were complex things when you thought about it.

"Well I'll… hm… actually, do the rules state that there can be a moderator of the tournament?" There was silence as Helen's consciousness left for a moment. I sipped my hot chocolate for a moment longer and closed my eyes, just relaxing in the armchair I often used to study the magics Harry Potter's world had to offer.

Helen came back excitedly with a devilish flair to her. An open book thudded down on my lap from thin air and I looked at a few of the rules. No peacocks allowed for magical rituals, no magic with a radial range of greater than two thousand hands, and… ah, 'Any oversight to the abidement of the rules must be recognized by the landowner in which the Grande Evente occurs'. So Helen announces me as the moderator for this year's tournament and I become a moderator. I think. Nobody truly owns Hogwarts as far as I know, except perhaps an even split between the four founding families of the school. Besides, who was going to say no to Helen? She WAS the school, and she could cause a lot of trouble in not just the tournament but the school itself if she wanted.

"Huh. So since you _are_ the land you just announce me as a moderator, or overseer as it is. Also, is abidement a word?" Helen dismissed my worries and sent an inquisitive feeling. "Yes, I'll moderate in the tournament. When is the next meeting between whoever's managing the tournament? Or should I just announce myself during a feast? Has the first task started?"

Helen responded with a happy feeling, a shrug, a negative, and another negative in that order. She then sent an image of an eight and a sun. So there were eight days until the first task. Good to know. Now, to plotting.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I watched through Helen's eyes as a house elf arrived at Dumbledore's side with the same book I had held hours ago. He set aside his dinner as the elf whispered to him and pointed out the rule of a moderator for the tournament. Dumbledore whispered something back and the house elf shook his head vigorously. At this point a few eyes were on the scene, including all the other headmasters. When the house elf urgently whispered one more thing to him Dumbledore reared back a little in surprise and cleared his throat. Whatever eyes weren't on him already turned to the front of the room.

"It appears that we may have an… additional party to the triwizard tournament," he announced. "As my friend here has just informed me," he gestured to the house elf, who waved to the students shyly, "a moderator may be selected by the owners of the land on which the tournament occurs." Whispers broke out among the students and teachers as he paused.

"With this in mind, I have been told that a moderator HAS been chosen. By Hogwarts itself," he said a bit dramatically. The whispers rose to a loud murmur, no voice easily distinguished from the rest. Dumbledore easily spoke over them and they quieted down once more. "Now, if such claims are true-"

'_ABYSSss GRANIte…' _The words rang through the halls in a feminine voice, fading around the end. Speaking out loud was hard for Helen but doable so long as I fed her a few million points of mana. I was certain that she was hoarding more mana than she needed to just project herself but who was I to complain? I wasn't using it at the moment and I regenerated it all easily enough.

Of course the hall broke out into shouts, the foreign teachers demanding to know who I was, the students crying out in surprise, more people asking if this was a farce, and others just sitting in shock. This was my cue. I merged my soul with Helen's for a moment and pushed away the sensation of becoming a whole castle. Instead I used my storm affinity through her to still the air in the great hall. The sound instantly quelled to nothing, shocking many people. Eyes turned once more to the front as Helen formed a doorway in the walls behind Dumbledore. He turned around to look as I opened it and separated myself from Helen. Going from a whole school to two eyes was jarring but I didn't let it interrupt my stride. I stood in front of the school and smiled broadly.

"That would be me. Hello again, all of you. I will be making sure nobody dies this time. Besides, I find myself in need of entertainment. A tournament should do nicely. They're meant to entertain, after all."

The horrified looks I received were hilarious.

[|||| =-= ||||]

My plan was deeply flawed. Dumbledore quickly mustered all the Headmasters and myself and put McGonagall in charge of the Great Hall before shuffling us all to a room with a rounded table.

Of course, some people didn't wait to sit down before they started yelling.

"What the blazes is a moderator doing here?! What trickery are you trying to do, you-" The castle shook once more and an angry feeling from Helen swept through me. A harsh, cold wind went through the room and the big man, Karkoff I think, closed his mouth and sat down.

"Now that we're all here I expect that you'll all stay silent as I explain why I'm here again." A few mouths opened and I stilled the air again so they couldn't speak. "Thank you all for being silent. I'm not affiliated with the institution of Hogwarts or either of your schools, though I am friends with the spirit of the castle itself, and yes there's a spirit of Hogwarts. With how old the castle is and how much magic is here you'd think that would be obvious. Now, she made me the moderator because this tournament is a nightmare for her and I have nothing better to do with my time than help out. Being moderator means that I have the final say on rules, meaning I assign punishments for breaking them and decide whether they have been broken or not if that's unclear. I have the responsibility of handling emergencies and a few other minor powers like invalidating judges that I deem unfair or providing assistance to champions if a task seems too deadly. Don't worry, I have loose standards."

I paused for a moment and waved my hand with a small burst of intent to Helen. The book of tournament rules appeared in front of each of the judges turned to a page with all the powers and responsibilities of the moderator, most of which were irrelevant and the rest of which I'd already described.

"Now, questions?" I released the stilled air and three people spoke up at once. The traded looks and the headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madam Maxime, spoke.

"There has never been a moderator until now. Why now?"

"There has never been a fourth champion until now. Helen, that's the spirit of Hogwarts, hasn't been able to interact with the students much more than the runes and latent magic of Hogwarts allowed her to. Next."

Dumbledore spoke. "As the Headmaster of Hogwarts I was expected to be presiding over this tournament, as it takes place in my school. How, exactly, has this changed?" I was almost impressed. Rather than getting angry that he had lost some influence in the tournament or questioning my new position he was actually rolling with it. I had thought he'd try to pull another power play.

"My apologies for usurping some of your power here, Headmaster," I began. Dumbledore's expression didn't seem to change but I thought he was pleased that I acknowledged him as headmaster. "But your authority extends to your students and their wellbeing, safety, and education. When there was no formally acknowledged moderator you were acting as one, which was in your rights since you were the highest authority in Hogwarts. Now that Helen has awakened, she has the final say in things, including your position." Dumbledore's face grew somewhat worried.

"Not to say you're going to be removed," I assured him. He relaxed a little. "I have no interest in the position of headmaster any time soon, if at all." Helen emitted a feeling of patience. I ignored her, the pushy woman.

"My authority is over the tournament. I can't, for instance, pull out any of the champions, but I can assure their safety and intervene if their life seems to be in danger. I can't do anything to any of your students either except for Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. Those two are under my supervision and I can do with them… nearly anything, actually. Their responsibilities lie in the tournament first and Hogwarts second. I technically have more authority over them than Helen, though she can strip me of my position as moderator." Dumbledore seemed uncomfortable with what I said. He was only really able to do what he normally did, administering Hogwarts.

"On that note, I'll be making my first ruling as the moderator here. I declare Harry Potter unfit to participate in the triwizard tournament as he is an unwilling participant by his word. If this needs confirmation I'm sure he'll swear under veritaserum that he didn't intend to participate. Though he's obligated by magic to participate he will not receive the prize of ten thousand galleons and he will not be formally recognized as a champion or victor, should he actually win." Everyone seemed pretty happy with this news. Even Dumbledore didn't seem very put off by it.

"To compensate for his unwilling participation, by his own admission, I'll be training him to be a bit less terrible in combat, just so he doesn't get horribly injured and I don't have to play mother hen to him. I'll talk with him about pulling him out of some of his classes during the day since champions are not obligated to attend their classes when preparing for the tournament." Karkoff and Maxine didn't seem to mind all that much and Dumbledore looked at me curiously. I was certain that he'd pull Harry aside to ask about me later.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Karkoff grunted. "Who are you? I've never heard of you so how do you know this Spirit of Hogwarts, as you call her, and how are you at all qualified for your position? How can we even trust what you say when we don't even know you? And why in Merlin's name do you have cat ears?!"

"I'm in my position because Helen says I am and she has the authority to do so. I don't need to justify my position to you. If you need proof of my abilities, ask some of the fourth year students. I acted as a substitute here earlier in the year before you all arrived. As for trust, of course you're not going to trust me. I just showed up here out of the blue. I'll prove myself during the first task and continue doing so. And I have cat ears because I don't like losing the extra senses I have when I change to a panther. I'm an animagus, you see." That was apparently enough for Karkoff as he leaned back and nodded, though he had a scowl on his face.

"I will be needing to talk to you, Mister Granite, on the events occurring earlier in the year," Dumbledore reminded me before he got up. I recalled the exploding owl he sent me and groaned.

"Let's leave that problem until we settle the one in front of us, namely informing the students and champions about what's changed. For now, just know that I don't care to be hostile to you." Dumbledore nodded and we all got up. I sighed inwardly when I realised that I would have to repeat everything to the students. Maybe I had been a bit too headstrong getting into this tournament mess.

Hopefully Kuroka hasn't gotten too worried that I went missing.

**AN: I avoid these normally but this time I think it's warranted. To really put himself out there Abyss needed to go cold turkey from Remnant. He needed to get kicked out of the nest, you could say. And obviously that leads to a lot, and I mean a LOT of emotions. Next chapter is actually doing the multicross stuff rather than just DxD and HP. I'm keeping it a secret for now, though. **

**Just know that there will be a short return to Remnant but it won't be present for more than short trips. Abyss is banned. Forever. He might just get short vacations here and there. Oh, and remember that ****POLL**** I told you all about earlier? Just saying. It's really important to me and this story. **

**Oh, and don't worry about this little Hogwarts business taking too long or much effort. Abyss has plenty of time to do other stuff as well as have fun in the HP-verse. A LOT of fun~**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey, I have like... thirteen chapters in this spinoff already, just letting you know. I'm not really sure how I'm going to be releasing all of them. I'm sure as hell not going to try and write on a schedule like last time. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 2**= ||||]

"Oh, I decided I needed something to do other than lay around you apartments. So I got a job," I said to Kuroka. She looked a little surprised at that but happy and leaned forwards interestedly on the couch I had been laying on just days ago.

"Well… good! Moping around all the time was getting old." I nodded.

"I was getting tired of it too. I've had some time to feel sorry for myself. It's time to do something. I'm working as a moderator for a tournament on behalf of my friend Helen.'

"Helen?" Kuroka asked, a strange look in her eyes and crossed her legs. "You've never mentioned her before, nyah."

"She's a spirit," I told her. "She used to be asleep, latent almost, at a magical school in a different dimension I frequent but when I first checked the place out the power of my soul and the aura - sorry, touki - I emitted woke her up. We've been friends ever since. None of the wizards in her domain can talk to her anyways since they can't feel the emotions in her touki."

Kuroka nodded. "Is she one of _those _friends?" I paused, surprised at the insinuation.

"The only other person I had that relationship with was Vera and she's…" I trailed off and Kuroka winced.

"Sorry, nyaa…" she said. I shook my head.

"It's fine. Helen doesn't even have a body, by the way. I guess I could make one for her but she really loves her students and I'm not interested in her in that way."

"Aww, so you're not making a harem?" I looked at her incredulously.

"Why would I want a harem?!"

"All the super powerful guys have a harem!" I rolled my eyes.

"Power attracts some types of women, a lot of them the bad kind. I saved Vera and gave her an opportunity. She and I liked sleeping with each other and so we did, but it wasn't very romantic. And I don't think you can go looking for a harem without seeming like a jackass, no matter how powerful you are." She nodded, not seeming all that disappointed.

"So if you met other women who were interested in sharing…"

"If I like them, you like them, they're comfortable with sharing, they like me, and there's no real reason to say no, then sure. I wouldn't mind, but that's about one percent of women."

"True…" Kuroka seemed contemplative. "Well, if you meet anybody like that I'm happy to share if I get to fool around with them." I shrugged.

"I wouldn't mind… but… are we dating?"

"Do you want kids?"

"Not right now. I don't have a house, and while I can get money and things easily enough, I still want to travel and experience new things. Having worlds to explore means that there's a lot that interests me. I can think of ten dimensions off the top of my head that I'm interested in studying at least a little."

"So, later then?" I considered it. I… liked Kuroka. As more than a friend. She was surprisingly dependable and more than a little friendly, not to mention committed to me if her taking care of me when I was down was any indication. It wasn't like I had any pressing threats or responsibilities like I did on Remnant. There were plenty of world threatening beings around but those were always there and I had never tried to play hero. I just wanted a better place for my family, mostly being Ruby. I couldn't think of a reason to say no to have a family again.

"… With later meaning potentially years later and if I don't have any reason to opt out of it, not that I'm expecting or looking for one."

"Then we're dating!" Kuroka said excitedly. She leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips, then pushed me down onto the couch, her hands trailing down my shirt. "And that means… we can do this!"

I decided that dating was a very nice experience not long after. _Very _nice.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Up and at em," I said as I pulled Harry out of his bed, thankfully wearing boxers. He flailed and yelled but I had already silenced the area. Helen's amusement and enthusiasm was in the back of my mind.

"I- what?" he stammered as he looked at me in exercise clothes.

"Training. I did say I'd be training you, didn't I?" I raised an eyebrow. He rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"I-yes, but…" He turned to his bed and fumbled around under his pillow, pulling out his want. "_Tempus_," he muttered. He looked at me angrily. It's six in the morning!"

"Yes," I said simply. "And classes begin at nine thirty. I'm working you until eight and taking you again after dinner until ten. Now get some clothes on. We're jogging."

"But… but why?!" he protested.

"Because wizards are wimpy little sniveling whiners. You aren't. Every auror goes through physical training and you're doing more than any auror does in their entire life. Besides, the fitter you are the better you can avoid spells that would otherwise dismember or kill you, and using less magic to avoid getting hit means you can use more to hit your enemies. Believe me, I don't like working out either but I still do it because I have the time and I can see the benefits. And if you get stubborn and refuse I'll throw you out in your boxers and have wolves nip at your heels. Actually…"

Harry quickly lunged for his trunk beside his bed and pulled out some clothes. I was actually a little disappointed. Wolves would be an effective motivator for him.

About fifteen minutes later I ran alongside Harry in what most would call muggle clothes around the lake a ways away from the castle. It was just a white undershirt and blue sweats but still muggle clothes. It was cold, being November, but since Harry and I were running it was rather nice. Harry, though, had pants, muggle pants, and a baggy shirt. I noted that I needed to get him some decent workout clothes.

"So you see, running isn't all you should be doing," I said breezily, not straining myself at all. "I'll be having you do crunches after this and some pushups, though thankfully for you not much of the second. You need to be fit but you're not going to be punching much, or stabbing as I often find myself doing. Just working your lower body would make you look odd, though."

Harry was breathing too heavily to respond. I noted that he should be able to run longer. Everybody should. Was he actually malnourished? We weren't running at what most people would consider a sprint but we were going faster than normal.

"You should eat more," I told him. "You're growing and you're going to be working your body a lot more than the norm for those your age. You'll be looking like hell after this. So eat until you can't. If others say you're going to get fat or something equally ridiculous or insulting tell them off and that I told you to. Physiology doesn't work that way anyways. People get fat because of genetics more than effort nowadays, their bodies are more predisposed to making fat than muscle, you see. People like you could eat a whole turkey every day and be fine."

Harry tried to slow down, lagging behind. "Catch up or I'll make some wolves. I was serious about that." He sped up a little bit, catching up. Apparently he believed me.

A little later, after pushing Harry through a workout of about a hundred crunches and forty pushups in sets as well as a little stretching, I gave him a fifteen minute break and a plate of bacon and an egg sandwich the house elves made. It turned out that they could teleport pretty far away from Hogwarts. I didn't know they did groundskeeping, but it made sense.

"So is your house still treating you badly?" I asked him while he ate. He shook his head and swallowed.

"No. Not getting any reward or recognition made them stop treating me badly… where did you hear that they were doing that?"

"Helen," I said.

"Helen?"

"She's the spirit around Hogwarts," I explained. "She moves the passages, aligns the stairs, keeps the magic around working properly, and plenty more. She's supposed to keep the students happy and working but she's been sleeping for a long, long time. She only woke up recently. Last summer, I think. She's been more active since then but she can't really do much." Harry frowned as he chewed some bacon.

"Come to think of it the stairs have been convenient lately, and the house elves have seemed happier. I think some students were talking about it. I just thought we were getting lucky."

"That was probably Helen. She's supposed to make sure you all learn properly. She reminds me of a fussy mother hen." We fell to silence as I looked over the lake. I could faintly hear Harry chewing. Working out gave him a serious appetite apparently.

"What are you going to be teaching me?" he asked after a minute before polishing off his sandwich.

"Nonverbal magic first. It's more flexible than people realize and simple if you have the talent for it, which I think you do. I'd prefer wandless magic but you're on a time limit and I don't think that's something you can really teach, more something you learn for yourself. I can give you the foundation though. I thought about doing elemental magic but I never learned the words for spells like that. I learned nonverbal first."

"What kind of school teaches nonverbal first?" Harry asked, licking his fingers.

"The kind that prepares people for combat," I answered. He looked surprised but then understanding. "Now come on. Wand up. We're starting. What kind of spell do you think is best for combat?"

Harry hesitated for a second. "Stupify if you want to avoid… killing," he answered.

"And if you do?"

"The… the killing curse. Or cutting curse if you…" I shook me head.

"Wrong either way, not that there was a right answer," Harry didn't look very surprised. "Combat is fast and messy. There's a hundred and one ways it could go. That's why there's a hundred and one different spells for it. Sometimes it's best to use the cutting spell, sometimes you need a blasting curse, and sometimes you need to just kill somebody with the killing curse. Not that the killing curse always works. Armor blocks it just fine, you know? Medieval, that is. Thin clothing doesn't block the magic but steel about two or three centimeters thick does. It seems like a lot but with magic such armor can be quite light."

"Then… why don't…" Harry seemed lost.

"Because it wouldn't make a difference," I told him. "Such armour would be expensive and it could still be circumvented by a cut at the right place, a pit falling under the person, or just tripping. Wizards aren't cut out to be all that powerful in most cases. I'm the exception, not the rule, and people like Dumbledore are too. Wizards are deadly because they're versatile. They can always take the easy path and that means that there's a lot of spells to make things easy. Cleaning, crafting, travelling, whatever. Taking the easy path is more than easy for a wizard."

"I can see that," Harry agreed.

"Good, now I'm not going to be teaching you to take the easy path," I said, enjoying the grimace Harry sported. "What, did you think you have an easy path ahead of you? Ridiculous. Now, wand up." Harry obliged and fished his wand out from the back pocket of his jeans. I had to get him a wand holster, immediately.

"Think of an effect. Something easy that you do verbally, and close your eyes." Harry closed his eyes. "Think of how you make that effect happen. How your magic feels. Reach for that feeling and pull on it, expelling the magic through your wand. Give it actual effort and push your desire into it. You have to want this to happen. Oh, and ignore those silly wand movements. Do what comes naturally. Magic is natural. If it doesn't feel right, it's not right. Swish or flick or jab or whatever. Now focus and act when you're ready."

Harry closed his eyes and I focused on his magic. I saw his magic morph a little, some mana and world affinity mixing together inexpertly. Sometimes it moved one way but jerked another. It was like Harry was fighting something.

"Stop fighting. Your magic wants something to happen. Let it act as it pleases. Your magic is you. Channel it and let it enact your desire. Don't mold it." I told him. The process stopped for a moment before restarting and becoming more smooth, those kinks less common and less intense. I nodded, not that Harry could see me. It took about thirty seconds before Harry actually cast the spell.

When Harry moved he stepped forwards and slashed his wand. A red bolt appeared from the tip and flew through the air. It went for about a hundred yards and hit a hill, making a little dirt fly up into the air far away. So there was a kinetic force in it.

"That was a stunner, right?" Harry nodded, his chest moving to his breathing.

"That was… harder than I thought it would be," he said, pausing to take a breath in the middle of his sentence.

"It was slower than I thought it'd be too," I commented. Harry gave me an annoyed look. "I also thought you'd take four or eight tries to get any result." I told him. He paused and his lips twitched into a small smile.

"Don't get too prideful. You took twenty eight seconds. I want you to have it down to one, preferably less, and be able to do so without focusing on it too hard so you can dodge while you're forming spells." Harry's face fell into disappointment.

"Now for drilling. This is going to boring for both of us and grueling for you so lets get started. We'll shift to a different spell in an hour, an hour on telekinesis, which should be extremely useful for solid projectiles, and spend the last fifteen minutes sprinting back to the castle. If we get back early you'll have extra time to get ready for breakfast. Consider a shower motivation. Oh, and you'll be doing this all on Saturday, by the way. Sunday's free, though."

Harry sighed, probably expecting a busy schedule already, and got ready to cast again.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"…Ophis." I spoke the name of the devil (figuratively) after playing video games for three hours and getting bored. Then I had decided to study about the multiple alternate universes I had available to explore when I decided to do so, which is to say I read and watched all sorts of fictional works, mainly anime and fantasy novels. But there was, in fact, too much of a good thing, and I had hit my limit.

"Yes?" Speak thy name and she appears. I didn't even release any void that time.

"Should I do anything as your apostle? I got a job teaching a kid but I really need more to do. I can only buy so many games before I get bored."

"Sleep."

"I just did for nine hours."

"I don't need an apostle."

"And I don't need a god. I'm still bored."

"… Help my minions."

"The Khaos Brigade? I guess I could do that. They're dicks, though."

"Dicks?"

"Bad people. Jerks. Terrorists."

"Oh…" Ophis looked down and thought. I looked to my games and wondered if there was anything else I could play at all. I quickly came to the conclusion that I really was just bored of my games. I wanted to do something, not lay about.

"Help your minion," she said.

"Who?"

"Your worshipper."

"Oh. Oh! Elsyria! Right, I forgot about her… maybe I should grow my church?"

"Yes," Ophis agreed. "It is an excellent way to waste time."

"Thanks, Ophis," I smiled. "I'll go do that."

"Mm." Ophis disappeared in a short swirl of black energy and I stood up and felt for the connection to Elsyria. I reached through it and saw a strange scene.

"And here we are, the holy ones who serve the righteous darkness! We are the absence left by an infinite emptiness!" a feminine voice shouted. In front of me there was a congregation of various people in robes.

"Hail the apostle!" they chanted fervently.

"Hail the Apostle!" Elsyria repeated with a grin. I disconnected from her senses and sat in shock.

"Oh fuck," I swore. I recalled my conversation with Elsyria last time. Nothing had seemed too off. I told her to send me monthly reports on Issei and his company, which she had done even if they weren't at all useful and I told her to move to Kuoh town.. I also told her to be my agent in this world. Fuck me sideways.

Hoping against hope I looked through our connection again and tried to use observe on her. It was even worse than I could have imagined.

**Elseria Vertagris**

**Titles: First follower of Abyss**

**Level – 107**

**HP – 360**

**AP – 5760/5760**

**MP - 212/7160**

**STR - 20 (+80%)=36**

**VIT - 38 (+80%)= 68.4**

**DEX - 66 (+80%)= 118.8**

**INT - 191 (+0%)= 191**

**WIS - 178 (+0%)= 178**

**LUK - 52 (+0%)= 52**

**Semblance: [Locked]**

**Affinities: **

**Storm: 1398**

**Nature: 1092 **

**Void: 811**

**Metal: 715**

**Space: 276**

**Divine: 171**

**Communion: 102**

**Perks:**

**Devotee of Abyss - Due to being under the patronage of Abyss Mavros, who has deemed to patron you, you are granted one percent of his strongest three affinities, though the amount of affinity available to you may be variable upon his will. Additionally, you may focus and communicate with said patron, though he may choose to ignore you, and he may transfer power to you as he sees fit. In exchange for these boons your pools of energy are completely under his control and your energy regeneration will fuel his pools of energy when not in use for your own reserves of energy. **

**Bio: Elseria is the third daughter of a prominent exorcist, Jameson Vertagris. She holds no hold on family inheritance or important connections within the church, which her family has served within for generations. With no unique affinity or outstanding talent, Elseria had no support from her family or the church in learning magical means of success, nor did she have any talent in exorcism as her sister did and thus turned to divine methods of success years ago. **

** Unfortunately, Elsiria found no divine visits from angels either. Her father cut off support for her due to her lack of talent and poor relations with him that persisted for years. She was excommunicated at her father's request and turned to more pagan methods of magical success, which she stubbornly persisted at. **

** Elseria, in desperate need of personal success, sought to contract with a god. Specifically Ahriman, the Iranic god of darkness and evil, due to his inactivity and placement in a comatose state centuries ago. In her practice she came to meet several notable supernatural figures including Iris, greek god of rainbows, a reaper in the service of Hades named Ulk, and the deputy shaman of the pagan beliefs of Europe, who is only known as Alan. **

** Upon attempting to summon a fragment of Ahriman to attempt a binding Elseria contacted you, who fit the specifications of her summoning chant better. After declaring her your agent in her world and granting her unique powers, not to mention casually summoning Ophis in front of her, She utterly devoted herself to you, utterly overwhelmed by your magical power and generosity in her seemingly darkest hour. **

**Using your burgeoning mythos as the Apostle and blossoming reputation as defeating several satans and the vanishing dragon's host she took her responsibility as your 'agent' as divine will. She slowly subsumed others she knew from her experiences in pagan magic into a cult based around you, using her powers of void as proof of validity. Over time, upon seeing the wildly successful cult numbering hundreds after your displays of strength and her efforts, she believes your meeting to be destiny and that your fates are forever intertwined. **

Forever intertwined? Fate? Who the fuck did she think I am?! Why did she build a cult?! Why would that be a good idea?! I slammed my hand onto my face, just feeling exasperated beyond belief.

… Well, I wanted work. Here's a cult. Great. Now what to do about it?

I quickly decided that there were three options. Destroy it, use it, or make it somebody else's problem. I could just cut off Elsyria, but she hadn't really done anything wrong, just interpreted my words wrong. The cult would fall apart pretty quickly without 'Divine proof'.

I could also control it, making it do my bidding, which would be easy, but cults were kind of unstable. That said, I didn't have much investment in the cult and Elsyria seemed to be a great cult leader if she made it this far. As for making it somebody else's problem I didn't know who I could dump the cult on, but the Khaos Brigade would probably take them if I did some threatening and dropped Ophis' name.

After a minute of thinking I groaned and reluctantly accepted that I should pay attention to my followers. It might be useful to have a bunch of minions. It certainly was in Remnant. Roman was a great help. I could probably get that house I wanted from the cult too. It wasn't like I was lacking in gold. I had my metal affinity, after all. Or I could just steal from somebody appropriately evil. There were plenty of rich devils, after all.

I looked through Elsyria again and found her in a back room washing her face. I teleported behind her and waited a moment. When she raised her hands and stood up she turned around and froze.

"M-my lord," she said in reverence. She fell to her knees. "I knew I would see you again!" she said a little tearily.

"I… just get to your feet..." I sighed. Elsyria sniffled and stood up, looking up at me with unhealthy devotion in her eyes. "So… you've made a cult." Her eyes lit up.

"Yes!" she yelled. She blushed and coughed, embarrassed. "Um, yes. I'm… well I'm your agent so I… made a religion. Um… we're not a cult."

"Robes," I said flatly, poking her shoulder. She looked away and the blush worsened.

"… Religions all start somewhere." she muttered. I sighed.

"Yes, I suppose they do. So what is it you intend to do with this congregation you have?" Elsyria grinned widely, the devotion shining strong once more.

"I want to serve you! You could help so many people! And we could help you a lot! We humans, well, we get a lot wrong. Gods could help a lot more but they just… don't for some reason. But you? You're really, um, down-to-earth in a way. I know you're not really up for thunder and booming commandments but that's okay! You're super powerful but don't let it go to your head. Besides, even Ophis acknowledges you as a god."

I nodded grudgingly at Elsyria's logic. I would be a great overlord because I don't actually want to be an overlord. I would keep the people in line because it was my responsibility but I wouldn't abuse my power. I just wasn't the person to do that sort of thing. I preferred to laze around and mess with teenagers in alternate dimensions.

"I can see your point," I admitted. "But I don't actually want to manage a church."

"That's fine!" Elsyria said happily. "I've been managing these people for a few months now. It's pretty easy once you get some confidence and practical experience, but it does take a lot of work."

"And when this cult of yours gets bigger?"

"I can still manage them then, or learn how. I think I'm pretty good at it. It's easier than traditional mathematical magic anyways. I don't really need donations or anything from my church right now. I just ask that 'when the time comes, do your part' and help them out. I read a bit about psychology and apparently helping people with the promise of a favor later on is the best for getting people to obey you." I decided not to ask about why Elsyria was looking into how to get people to obey her.

"So you want me to… rule the world?"

"No, just guide the church we build around your mythos. Go do something impressive in public and our church will probably grow more. If you could bless others like you did me, making them your followers, I'd reeeally appreciate it! Oh, and you don't mind that I'm calling myself your head priestess, do you?"

"I don't mind, and I was planning to give your congregation the same connection you have, though I'm going to make it a lot weaker than yours. About a third as powerful with void, I think, and half as powerful in storm. As far as the church goes I'd say that you should enforce peace through violence. That's effectively what I did at that factions meeting, though hardly what I was intending to do. Show strength to avoid using it."

"I like that," she agreed. "Peace through violence sounds a little violent for what I think you want, though. How about… peace through power? It seems more flexible that way and less aggressive."

"You're right, I like that more." I nodded at her little catchphrase. Elsyria beamed at me and I smiled lightly at her.

"Could you show up tomorrow around three? I'm going to call a mass congregation saying that everyone is going to get a blessing and a visitation from our god. Do something dramatic and bless everyone and they'll be super happy! Recruiting will definitely go up."

"Three tomorrow works. Would you mind reaching out for economic power, though? I have raw power myself but I can't do all that stuff that requires hard work. Leading a company isn't really a godly thing. Say that as you're gaining power in mortal affairs my power in godly affairs grows or something."

"Oooh! I like that! I'm getting ideas already! I'll get everyone to do some mere mortal stuff like starting businesses. Thanks, my lord!" I nodded at her and paused, considering whether to help out Elseria just a little more.

"Actually… let me tell you about semblances. They're related to touki and I think you'll appreciate them. Call them a gift of devotion. All you have to do is meditate and use your touki, in fact."

Elsyria's eyes widened as I explained and she was laughing madly when I was done.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Harry, meet Kuroka. She had nothing to do and I had no reason to tell her not to come so she's going to help out with your training this time." I gestured towards her and she smiled and waved as Harry walked near the lake, which I had told him to do at seven at the end of our morning session.

"Hi, Harry!" Harry stared at her for a moment and then stared some more at the cat ears on her head. Then he looked down at her face but his eyes decided to keep going lower and his face burned red.

"Um, hi," he said a little meekly. I understood why. It was her… _bountiful personality_.

"She's my girlfriend," I said with a sharp smile in a calm tone. Harry's eyes widened and he looked to Kuroka again, who was looking at me with amusement.

"… Cat ears?" Harry asked a little desperately, probably hoping to change the session.

"Kuroka's half nekoshou, a type of yokai, which are Japanese spirits, though they're also demons of a sort" I explained. "I'm just always using a bit of my animagus form but Kuroka was born this way, which is also why her ears are a bit different." Harry nodded and looked between us, Kuroka in a long shirt and jeans and myself in the sweats I'd worn in the morning and a longer shirt.

"I'm here because, well firstly I was curious about Abyss' new job, but you're going to be practicing reflexes and senses and Abyss didn't mind some help." Harry grimaced at the word reflexes, his mind probably already coming to conclusions.

"I'm going to cast some pain hexes at you. You're going to dodge them and stay alert for when Kuroka decides to throw something at you from a different angle," I explained. "You need to be alert at all times in the challenges. An attack from an unexpected angle probably means injury or death. You need to not only be able to sense it, but react to it as well. In this, I also want you to try to rely on your magic to tell you when to dodge."

"How the bugger do I do that?" he asked in disbelief.

"Practice," I said seriously. He opened his mouth but closed it a moment later, apparently having nothing else to say.

"Done? Good. Let's go." I raised my hand, my middle and index fingers pointed. I collected a miniscule amount of aura and mana along with a little mind affinity and flung it as a sea green projectile at Harry. He stepped aside but was unprepared when a second bolt flew a second later. He yelped and raised a hand to his chest with a pained expression.

"Oh, come on!" I complained "One bolt? One?! I get that this was your first try but these don't even sting that much. And next time don't stop. Bear through the pain. They're at like a bee sting level of pain too. You can easily take that." Harry sighed then looked in alarm at where Kuroka was just a moment ago.

"Where'd she…" he trailed off and leapt to the side when a small blast of purple energy went through where he was just a moment ago. When it got too close to me half a second later I lashed out with void and destroyed the blast.

"Hey, not bad!" Kuroka cheered, wisps of purple energy around her hands. Harry stared at her aghast.

"What would that have done?" I asked.

"Paralysed him," she answered casually. "Oh, and hurt a bit but not much. It's a really minor youjutsu anyways. He would have been up in a minute."

"Stunning students is illegal," Harry murmured quietly.

"For teachers, now learn because pain is a good teacher in my experience." My fingers glowed sea green and Harry looked in despair at them. This would be his norm for the next week.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Just letting you guys know that unless I'm writing characters specifically in Japan, the characters written are Japanese, they're noted Japanophiles, or circumstances dictate it I'm not writing with the Japanese suffixes whether they're part of the source material or not.**

**Update: Making polls on FF is a terrible system where you can only have one poll active at a time. I think I got it down, though. Have a merry Christmas.**

[|||| =**LEVEL 3**= ||||]

I had hours of nothing to do, which was still an odd concept compared to my time in Remnant. I always had something interesting to do there. Training Harry was somewhat interesting, but more of a way to waste time than anything. I'd get my payoff in a few days when the first task for the tournament began. But besides that I could only spend time with Kuroka, who had her work to do, and occasionally manage my growing religion, which was growing about as fast as it could with or without my constant involvement.

I checked in once a week to 'bless' everyone Elsyria managed to convert. Ever since that first group congregation where I appeared in a flash of lightning, leaving people seeing only a silhouette of me and the heavy feeling of my aura and magic pressing on them, Elsyria had been flooded with potential converts. She was being careful, taking only the people who were actually being honest. I was taking a mostly hands off approach, letting her do all the actual managing.

At the end of the day I just didn't have much to do. I needed more than a part time job like I had teaching Harry. He could actually do most of the exercises himself now and he seemed more motivated. I suspected that he had seen the results of his work and had decided to commit to my regime. That left me with even more potential time since my position as moderator of the tournament was only supervisory. I could handle any foul play through Helen anyways since she saw everything that happened on her grounds.

I had to handle a few cases of bribery so far but that was just taking the money used in the bribe and giving everyone involved a politely worded letter that if they tried foul play again I would drop them in the middle of a swamp with an anti-apparition jinx on them. Nobody had done anything illegal since then.

Besides, for all this work I could just reach through the void and make an avatar from hard light to take my place like I used to do at Beacon. My presence was required in most cases, but my skills were not.

So… what to do?

I reached out into the void. 'Bring me somewhere where I will have something amusing to do,' I communicated into it. The void seemed to swirl, the echo from my command taking almost a full second to complete for some reason. I knew that the void could process information, it sorted through an infinite amount of information to fish out worlds with my desired traits after all. I assumed that I could use it to find something more subjective, like something interesting.

I felt myself being pulled through the void by my affinity only to open my eyes in a somewhat smelly city on top of a building. I looked down at the people in the streets to see what looked like almost normal people, though they weren't quite in the modern era yet. Clothes were made of cotton, though I saw a few people in alleys wearing sackcloth. Some of the wealthier dressed people wore more colorful clothing that made them look like maritime merchants. Things looked… normal. A little poor, maybe, but not bad.

I frowned and looked around. I was put here for a reason. Perhaps I should look for a landmark. I almost turned in a circle, but froze the moment I looked behind me. A massive, absolutely gargantuan palace sat in the middle of the city. It's gleaming emerald domed roof sat with smaller towers headed with only slightly less opulent copper, perfectly accented by gold supports all across. The walls were made of pure marble with open aired windows and balconies.

I knew where I wanted to go immediately. There.

I pulled out a dark grey cloak from my inventory to hide my ears, though I wasn't sure whether I'd keep them hidden permanently yet, and a long sleeved shirt. I also put on my belt and shortsword, as well as the inequalizers just in case I needed to get serious fighting somebody. Nobody I had seen in the streets was magical though so perhaps I wouldn't need them. Since I didn't know if magic was common in this world, I would be relying on my skills with a sword and my physique first. There was no need to make myself stand out for now.

I looked at the gap between the roofs and wondered if a normal human could conceivably jump the gap. I nodded to myself and took a running start before I leaped across flawlessly and continued over the streets, knowing in my bones that there would be something interesting in that giant palace. I just needed to be enterprising enough to find it. Worst comes to worst I could steal all the comfortable furniture I found and call the day a success.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I mostly used mundane skills to infiltrate the palace. A little metal magic to pick a lock here or a jump higher than most humans would be able to do there wasn't a bad thing. I could have just teleported inside in all honesty, but it was partially the challenge of infiltrating the palace that appealed to me.

I thought about trying to scale the massive walls holding the palace away from the rest of the city, but decided I'd stand out against the white walls. Instead I found a guard's turret and picked the lock to get inside. I climbed the stairs, dodging a few guards along the way (doing so was easy with Bella's training and my ability to sense them through walls). When I could, I reached the inside of the walls and dashed into a fancy house. The massive palace was just a few streets away, but breaking into some noble's house would help make infiltration more fun. I wasn't in this world to be serious, after all. I was here to amuse myself.

I perused the house with leisure. I found a butler and a maid upstairs in what was presumably the master bedroom naked and smoking something pungent. I ignored that room and explored the rest of the house. It was mostly what you expected on the inside for a rich person. There was a wine cellar, a large kitchen, four guest bedrooms, a well decorated dining room for eight people at most, and a few other mundane rooms. I stole a few pieces of furniture and a bunch of spare nice clothes in my size from one of the guest bedrooms.

But down in the wine cellar I reached out with my space affinity to get a sense of the area and stopped dead in my tracks.

"What the?" I muttered. I turned towards one wall in particular, having a few missing wine racks from the symmetry of the room. I used my space affinity again to map out the room and found the same results. There was a secret passage. And as with all secret passages…

I pressed a few bricks, pushing on them. The wall moved backwards and I stepped back smirking… then my smirk dropped as nothing happened. I pressed the same area again and the wall moved.

"Oh, come on!" I complained as I pushed the fake door back. Hinges squeaked a little as the door moved and I walked down the passage. There was only one door at the end of the passage and I held my breath as I opened it. The door swung open ominously and I held back my excitement at finding treasure or something.

What I found was _not _treasure.

A young naked lady, perhaps twenty or so, was lying asleep in manacles connected to the floor. I saw bruises young and old on her body, though none touched her stomach or her face. A stomach, I noticed, which was very obviously pregnant. Some dried blood was on the stone floor around her.

"Oh… oh no," I muttered, my stomach rolling. I had seen some very messed up things when I was on my murder spree in Vacuo, and I had seen plenty of corpses searching through the magical hotspots in Remnant. I had broken a few human trafficking rings tearing through Vale's underworld for Roman but every time seeing things like this still got to me.

I walked to the woman, who woke up slowly. When she saw my shoes the first thing on her face was fear. Then surprise as she looked up at me. I knew my cloak covered the top of my head but I still made an illusion from light to hide them as I pulled my hood down. She looked dimly at my ears but didn't seem concerned at all.

"I don't suppose you're here by choice, huh?" I asked a little piteously. The woman blinked and slowly shook her head. I paused.

"Hold on." I turned around and walked to leave the room. I heard the manacles clink and a faint noise but I still walked through the door and waited a second as I got a blanket from my soul space. I entered back in and tossed the blanket over the woman. She looked down at it and up at me stupidly.

"Do you want out of here?" I asked her slowly. Her eyes widened and she nodded several times quickly. I sighed lightly and reached into my cloak where she couldn't see and pulled out a pack of mints, one of which I took from the metal tin.

"I'm going to have to give you a sedative. I can't smuggle you out of here, I'm a thief and not supposed to be here, you see, but I'll bet that I can carry you out," I said calmly. "It's fast acting but won't harm your baby… do you want that child in you?" The lady looked down and her bottom lip trembled.

"W… water," she rasped. I nodded and left the callar. A few minutes later I had a glass filled with water alongside a pitcher, both of which I gave to the woman. She took the pitcher and drank greedily while I rolled my eyes. I felt that the situation was less amusing when she finished the whole thing. She must really have been that thirsty.

"I… I don't want it," she said vehemently. I nodded.

"Well you're going to have to find a doctor with loose morals. You look like you're in the last stages of pregnancy. I can bring you near a hospital, though I myself can't bring you in. I'm sorry about that." The lady's eyes darkened and she looked at the mint. I handed it to her and she swallowed it whole. I waited a few seconds then pulled on my mind affinity, making the woman feel drowsy.

"Leave it to me. I'll have you out of here in no time," I said as the woman lost consciousness. The moment she was asleep I waved my hand and the manacles on her hands melted to the floor, leaving her unharmed. I gently wrapped the blanket around her body and teleported away from the horrible house back on top of the building I started at. I leaped into the alley and approached a man who I tapped on the shoulder.

"I'm looking for the nearest hospital. Do you know where one would be?" The man's face grew angry.

"Piss off!" he spat. I scoffed and my left hand moved as my right went up. A quick application of blink had me holding up two copper coins. I gently slipped the pouch I had lifted from him into my cloak's left pocket.

"Hospital?" I asked again. The man grunted at the coins and took them.

"Past baker's street. The big dark blue building over there." He pointed behind me. I looked back there and nodded at the man before stepping quickly away from him and into the alley again before teleporting as soon as I was out of sight.

"THIEF!" I heard the man roar from the roof. I picked up the lady and chuckled as I heard the coins gently clink in my cloak. I was also pretty happy that I didn't have to hide my ears. Apparently animal people are multi-universal. I hadn't seen any faunus or other beast people around, though. I should probably look into that…

[|||| =-= ||||]

I left the lady with the nurses at the hospital, who were happy to treat the perfectly healthy but unconscious lady thanks to my life magic. I skimmed the minds of the nurses and gave only enough money to pay for her treatment for a day before slipping the pouch filled with coin between the blanket and the lady's skin. It had a few silver coins and a large gold one that looked valuable. If she was smart she would get a nice job or something. Perhaps she had family in the city. Either way I continued my adventure.

Feeling gloomy but still excited to reach the palace, I began again from the noble's house. Getting to the palace was surprisingly easy. The streets were mostly empty except for a few carriages escorted by armored guards on horses. At the first wall I had to curse. The only way in was through checkpoints manned by guards and a line of carriages were already slowly going through them. There were two lines, one of which spoke to the guards, sometimes for several minutes, before normally being turned away. The second simply showed the guards a badge or talked for a moment before being let through. Judging by the more plain suits of the people in the second line I deduced that it was for servants bringing in deliveries.

I thought about making a carriage of hard light myself and trying to get in but I didn't want to sound any alarms if I arrived off schedule and I didn't want to wait in line in the first place. Eventually, I just changed into the fancy looking clothes I stole from the unknown noble's house and teleported inside the walls. I made myself look like I had a purpose and walked around the palace's inner grounds.

A few servants looked at me somewhat oddly but I gave them my best practiced haughty glare and they quickly found better things to do than bother me. I walked around randomly until I eventually found a side entrance where a servant came out. Hard light disguised me in servant clothes and made a basket of green apples in my arms. I knocked and waited a moment for somebody to open the door and made to step inside when an older maid opened the door.

"We asked for apples?" she asked, seeming puzzled.

"Somebody asked for an apple pie, fresh she said," I responded. She made an aah of understanding and walked away. I walked with my basket of apples to find some corridor and walked down that, having absolutely no clue where I was going but having a hell of a time of it.

After consideration I stepped into a bedroom of some sort and dropped the illusion. I considered wearing the noble's clothes but it just wasn't… _interesting _enough. I wanted to walk around the palace like I owned the place and see something interesting. I could just walk around with my fake apples but something interesting wasn't just going to come to me. I had to make something interesting for myself. So I changed into my cloak and comfortable clothes again and thought for a moment before putting on the armour for my huntsman outfit over the clothing but beneath the cloak. It should make unimportant people bother me less.

With my clothing set, I looked boredly around the nice room and stole a few things. A vase, a couch, the incredibly soft sheets on the bed, and some pleasantly scented hand soap from the personal bathroom connected to the bedroom. When I stepped out I saw a man in the fancy armour I had seen on a few guards in the palace.

"Were you… are you… that's General Esdeath's room," the guard said, confused.

"I know, that's why I was there," I lied with a roll of my eyes. I stepped past the man and he looked between me and the room, with a shiver, he decided to not mess with me. I walked down the hall and was genuinely surprised when people looked at me curiously but minded their own business like qualified experts. I considered if there was anywhere to go as I walked and ended up in a garden. I smiled pleasantly as I kneeled down to pick a white flower. I sniffed it and hummed before I tossed it aside to look over the whole garden.

"Alba dolore," a voice said from my right. I looked to see a woman in a military uniform with long blue hair and a tattoo between her very exposed breasts. I hadn't seen a military uniform ever accentuate a woman's breasts better.

"Do you know the translation for that?" I asked.

"White pain." she said with a smile. It seemed a little fake.

"I'd have thought it to be something about beauty. It doesn't smell all that nice but it's one of the better looking flowers I've seen," I said with a frown at the innocent looking flowers. "Does it have a legend about causing pain? Or is it a narcotic?"

"It's a narcotic, though not a useful one. It only causes pain. It can't be used to relieve it unless it's processed and even then it's inferior to other options. Truly it's only good for looking beautiful and causing pain. It's my favorite flower." The woman walked next to me and looked down at the flowers with a more honest smile. I came to the conclusion that she was just a bit unhinged. She was definitely into S&M, though.

"I suppose there are worse flowers to enjoy," I thought out loud. "I dislike roses myself. They're pretty but so cliche, and everyone forgets their thorns. I prefer orchids myself, though I'm not all that interested in flowers in general. They're almost all nice to look at and there are some really interesting ones. I know that one of them even grows in the air."

"Grows… in the air?" The woman looked curious and raised an eyebrow as she looked at me.

"Yes," I confirmed. "They grow in the jungle, as a lot of strange and dangerous things do, and form on the branches of trees. They need a lot of moisture in the air and grow slowly since they take all their nutrients from the air as well. The only reason they as a species survive is because they survive where few if any other plants can."

"For somebody who claims to not like plants you seem to know a lot about them," the lady noted.

"I only know about the interesting ones, though I suppose I know a lot more than most people about plants. But that's another story."

"I suppose it is," the lady agreed. Her eyes narrowed a little bit. "But onto the matter of interesting things… you don't seem to be a sniveling noble nor an assassin. Who, exactly, are you and why are you in the palace?"

"My name's Abyss Mavros and I'm a traveller," I smiled at her and noted the woman's hand on a rapier at her side. I hadn't noticed. Perhaps this lady is actually dangerous. "As for how I got in here… I just walked in." The woman looked at me dubiously.

"Truly, I did," I told her somewhat honestly. "The guards at the first checkpoint were busy dealing with some noble lady causing a fit over how her entry ticket was legitimate. I just walked past them. Then I came into the castle through the servants entrance on the west side and went through some corridors, just seeing the sights."

"You came into the castle… to see the sights?" she asked, not quite as suspicious anymore but more confused.

"Well… you didn't hear this from me but… I'm also a thief," I told her conspiratorially. She heard me say this and stared at me with wide eyes, as though she couldn't believe her own ears. "I have to pay for my travels somehow, you see, though I'm not in the palace for that exactly. I already robbed a noble's house outside the palace's walls. It was the… Argosian manor, I think?"

"The Argosians do have a manor next to the palace, yes…" the lady said slowly.

"Are their butler and maid in an affair?" I asked.

"They're married I believe."

"Did they kidnap a woman earlier and put her in a cellar?" The lady was silent for a moment.

"I believe I have enough evidence that you broke into the Argosian manor." I nodded.

"Is that sort of thing common around this city?"

"… Yes." I nodded, not feeling very surprised.

"Your nobles don't seem very noble." The lady paused for a solid two seconds before a small chuckle left her mouth at my bad joke.

"So you're here to see the sights, hm?" I nodded again. "Would you like to see the torture chamber?"

"Is it in use?"

"It's always in use." I sighed.

"No thank you. I tend to avoid unpleasant places." I was considering killing all the torturers in there though. This world was horribly dystopic. The lady frowned at that.

"The torture chambers are lovely places!" she argued.

"Maybe if you're a sadist or a masochist. But even if you are, pain gets old fast," I retorted. Esdeath opened her mouth as if to speak then frowned. "Pain isn't a bad thing. It's a great teacher in some cases. But to my knowledge people inflict it either to feel better about themselves or to accomplish a goal. If you already feel better about yourself, inflicting it just gets boring. It's worse if you're an empathetic person because you relate to that person and feel pain yourself."

"Torturing has gotten a little boring lately," the lady said with a trace of disappointment in her tone. "I don't suppose you have any suggestions?"

"You've tried spicing it up?" the lady nodded. "Try making it personal. If you're just torturing people for the hell of it that's not anything anybody would find fun after a while, if at all. That's not something you do for fun. That's a job. Do it when you feel like it if you must, but random people don't make anything fun. But everything is more fun if you have somebody you care about with you, either alongside you or… if you're torturing them. Whether you love or hate the person isn't important. You're lacking emotion in these things and you need to bring somebody you care about into it. I'd recommend getting an apprentice or capturing somebody you hate."

The lady was looking at me like she had had a divine revelation. "It's just… oh my." She was staring off into space, her eyes cloudy. "I had never thought about that before," she said contemplatively as slow smile crept across her face. "Emotion… yes…" Her eyes cleared and she grabbed my right hand with both of hers, holding it to her breasts.

"Abyss… I cannot thank you enough. I've been having problems for so long… I thought I was just wearing down! But emotion… I've never considered using emotion as a torture inplement!" I was nearly certain that this lady was batshit insane.

"Or, you know, love is nice too…" I trailed off.

"Yes! Love!" The sadistic torturer giggled girlishly and beamed at me. "Truly, torturing somebody who loves me would be exquisite. Or perhaps a companion I love, to enjoy my crafts with. Hm, I _should _arrest you and toss you in the torture chambers. That's what I came here to do, but can you actually fight?"

"Of course!" I said, feeling offended she even suggested that I couldn't.

"I'd like for you to come on my next campaign with me," the lady said.

"Your next campaign…" Something about those words implied interesting things. "Who exactly are you?"

"General Esdeath, head of the Empire's offensive armies." I had to stifle a laugh at that. I was caught by the head of the army? A general? I was having a great time! I mean, this was a weird conversation and I should probably kill this psycho but… this was reallyfun. Also, Esdeath? Didn't I rob her? I should probably put her stuff back or I might have trouble.

"You know what? Sure. I'll come with you, for the interesting portions at least," I said with a smile. "But I have one condition."

"So long as I can add one of my own," Esdeath said, instantly turning a bit skeptic.

"Those torture chambers? Make sure that the people in there actually deserve to be in there. I'm not the kind of person to run around doing good and playing hero but I'd prefer to help out a little bit where I can. I consider it payment for stealing and occasionally slaughtering criminals and playing vigilante."

"That won't be easy but I suppose I can do that," Esdeath agreed, not even slightly surprised by my admission of murdering criminals. She had undoubtedly done far worse. "As for my condition… you say you can fight. I want to fight you." Her eyes looked somehow more dangerous than when she was suspicious of me. She looked interested, which I doubted was good for my health.

But against my better judgement… this sounded fun. "Alright then."

[|||| =-= ||||]

The courtyard Esdeath brought me to seemed to double as a training yard for soldiers and guardsmen. Of course, as soon as she so much as appeared every single soldier saluted her, stopping whatever it was they were doing. When she actually moved to walk onto the grounds everybody scrambled out of the way before looking on excitedly from the sidelines. When she reached the other end of the yard the sides were packed with sweaty bodies, each of them looking on. I noted that most of them were men but there were some muscular women among the soldiers too. Did this world use women as soldiers alongside men? I was starting to wonder if my original world was some sort of outlier, only using men to fight for most of history.

"This will be a fight until one of us is subdued," Esdeath said normally. I still heard her clearly since as soon as she said 'fight' every murmur and whisper among the soldiers silenced to an excited tension.

"Swords only?" I asked.

"Use your teigu-" I had no idea what those were, "-but let's try not to destroy the courtyard." Esdeath pulled out a rapier and my sword was instantly in my hand as she ran towards me. I blinked in surprise as our swords clashed. She just ran across the whole courtyard in half a second… well that answers my question about supernatural abilities then.

I pumped aura through my body and assaulted Esdeath, fighting offensively to test her limits. She leaped back, an eager grin on her face, and countered some of my strikes, dodging others nimbly. I wasn't pushing myself, though. If needed I could go much faster.

I was pushed to go faster when Esdeath turned up the heat. Her strikes started moving fast enough to blur to human eyes and her feet moved quickly enough to stir up clouds of dust. I started mixing in more kicks and acrobatics to get unorthodox angles and attacks. This definitely caught her off guard and with a corkscrew after a heavy blow against her guard I landed a solid kick to her cheek.

Esdeath stopped cold and stepped back, her face completely calm aside from twitching lips and an unnerving gleam in her eye.

"Spar or not… do you know the last time somebody landed such a solid attack on me?" she asked with a restrained voice. I didn't answer. "It's been a long time. Less than a year but those were long battles with endless weaklings to tire me out. In a one-on-one match only General Budo has ever pushed me. Lets see you do the same." Her rapier drew back and she lunged _far _faster than before.

Finally trying hard, I spun and slashed and even mixed in a roll as Esdeath started fighting in earnest. Most of her attacks were stabs but a few light slashes and feints were common. But what I noticed was that she was an orthodox fighter. She stuck low to the ground and hardly ever jumped or kicked. As fast as she was, almost as much as myself, she was limited to the ground. So I got tricky.

More of my attacks were the unorthodox, awkwardly angled strikes. I would strike with one hand only to step in and punch with the other a moment after. I jumped into the air only to lash out with a flurry of kicks. I moved with jerky, unstable movements rather than the flowing, fast attacks I preferred. It wasn't graceful, but Esdeath had a horrible time predicting my movements. I landed a cut on her bicep and two blunt blows to her abdomen before she started laughing.

I stiffened as affinity leaked into the air. Ice, cold, and… freeze? I didn't recognize the third but I could guess what it was by it's feeling. Esdeath's rapier flicked to one side and another and icicles formed in mid-air and darted towards me at the speed of bullets. I twirled and leapt to dodge some of them and still nearly ended up with an icicle through the brain. Well if that was how you wanted to play it…

I considered using icicles myself, I had an ice affinity after all, but instead blinked behind her and slashed. Esdeath, for the first time, jumped and attempted a spinning kick at me. I leaned under it and tried to roundhouse kick her but saw another icicle flying at my face and blinked once more.

Our fight evolved into a storm of icy projectiles and frantic teleporting. I hardly touched the ground so much as teleported from one place to another. I didn't bother to take strides. I warped the space in-between and pivoted, ending up at another place entirely. Icicles tried futilely to pierce me but I just moved too fast for a proper shot to be placed.

The two of us were at a stalemate. Esdeath couldn't hurt me, I was too fast, and I couldn't strike her since her icicles could deter me and her reflexes were fantastic, good enough to counter any sword strike I could attempt. So I had to reach further into my bag of tricks.

I stopped teleporting for just a moment and warped space to divert the small storm of icicles coming at me. I drew my sword back and cut strongly and a wave of distortion exited it, heading towards Esdeath. She flicked her rapier up and a wall of ice rose from the ground immediately but my dimensional cut was 2-d. It couldn't be stopped by solid barriers. The moment Esdeath saw the distortion on her side of the barrier she leapt to the side but her right leg, which pushed her away, stayed behind. The distortion cut through the front of her boot and the fight stopped.

Gently, Esdeath pulled her foot back only to gasp and stumble in place. I saw the front of her boot on the ground, red nubs still stuck in it. I had severed the tips of Esdeath's toes. That must hurt.

"Well done, it's not often that I push myself so hard," Esdeath said after a moment of silence. She sounded mostly normal but if you listened closely she sounded just a little bit winded.

"This was fun. You're irritating to fight with those reflexes of yours."

"And what sort of absurd fighting style were you performing? Did your career as a jester fail?"

"Are you saying you were bested by a jester?" Esdeath rolled her eyes and shifted on her feet, wincing when she put too much pressure on her right foot and blood spurted out. "Actually, maybe you should see a doctor," I suggested. Esdeath looked around.

"You! Tend to my wound." Esdeath pointed out a small man with a white bag on the sidelines, where there were surprisingly more people than before. The man, as well as the others, must have appeared to watch Esdeath and I fight. The small man, seemingly a medic, scrambled forwards to Esdeath and crouched down, immediately taking out alcohol and bandages. Esdeath tossed away her ruined boot and the man began disinfecting and wrapping it.

"You will be… more than sufficient to fight alongside me," Esdeath said to me.

"I can certainly take care of myself," I said dryly. Esdeath hummed thoughtfully.

"Go, and don't steal anything," Esdeath dismissed me. "Be here tomorrow at noon. I will have Doctor Stylish tend to my wound soon."

"I won't steal anything else," I said playfully. She scoffed and I waved to her as I formed a portal. She looked curiously at it as I backed inside it and it closed. I breathed deeply, still smelling the stench of the city. It wasn't a nice smell compared to the palace grounds. A look at my watch had me nearly jump in the air.

"Oh, crap I'm late for Harry!"

**AN: This new world is Akame Ga kill, where there's some moral issues more than power related ones or anything. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So the majority vote was to move the story here to it's new, er, thread? FF isn't a forum but it's in a separate place from the main story now anyways. **

**Also, the vote was overwhelmingly in support of lemons rather than not. Some of you even voted to have your eyes burn from too any lemons. More people voted for that than no lemons at all. I put that option there as a joke! So there will be some sex scenes. Like right down there about halfway through this chapter. Scenes like that are about every four-ish chapters starting at the first one, which is at chapter 9. **

**To wrap this up I'd like to thank UNHOLY LIGHT for throwing like forty different ideas at me for world travelling, which was exactly what I needed. Some were good, some were bad, some were weird, two I actually laughed at laughed until I realized that they were pretty smart when you thought about it, and two or three were absolutely genius and I'm totally using them. I have them written down with my plans for that world in a google doc. **

**Enjoy. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 4**= ||||]

"Karkoff, judge fairly," I reprimanded the man. He snarled and whipped his wand towards the air. The 2 that he had originally graded Fleur with became a six. It was still lower than the other judges, Madam Maxime and Dumbledore, who graded with an eight and nine, but it was good enough. I sighed and waved the tournament onwards.

Harry had been stressing over the tournament for the past three days, making him a pain in my behind. He even went so far to ask for an extra few hours of training late at night. I told him to do it on his own since I had work to do.

And for the first time in a few weeks I actually did have work to do. The tournament was a mess, and while I certainly wasn't organizing it (I was staying FAR away from that catastrophe) I was making sure nobody died. In the moment that meant using my metal affinity to make the chains holding the dragons much denser, nearly twice the weight they were before.

I also reprimanded a few dragon handlers for getting drunk, stopped a few more cases of corruption, and checked in with the other champions to make sure they knew what was going on with Harry not getting a prize or formal recognition as a champion and the schedule for the tournament. They didn't need my help, of course, but they appreciated that I was taking my duties somewhat seriously all the same.

I watched slightly boredly as Victor Krum, the third champion, cast a nasty blinding curse on his dragon's face and snagged its egg out from under it. I sighed when the dragon cried out and stumbled around, crushing most of its eggs underfoot. When the scor came up for him I waved my hand and magically tossed a rock at the back of Karkoff's head for giving him a ten when Dumbledore and Maxime gave him a six and four. He waved his wand after muttering a few curses and his ten changed to an eight, which was good enough to be considered fair.

Finally, after a whole day wasted with the pompousness of the tournament, I arrived at the meat of the tournament, the stuff I had been waiting for.

Harry Potter entered the stadium to wave at the audience, inciting a roar of applause. I clapped lazily and watched closely to make sure he didn't screw up horribly. That would be bad for me. In the back of my head Helen was fretting as she had been doing for the whole tournament. Something about giant fire breathing lizards attacking children frightened her.

Harry waved his wand a few times and nothing appeared to happen. For nearly ten seconds he cast spells while standing in place. The audience's mood shifted to whispers, probably expecting something good, while the dragon growled and snapped at Harry, but was unwilling to leave her nest and children. I focused on the affinity in him and nodded in approval at the properly formed spells taking root in his body.

When Harry finally moved he did it in style. He moved to start running and the ground blew up behind him as he sprinted across the field. The dragon made some shrieking noise and breathed some fire at him but Harry's lessons in dodging had taught him how to avoid the flames, though I rolled my eyes at a backflip he did, the showy brat.

The audience was making oohs and aahs as Harry slowly made his way closer to the dragon, avoiding attacks in a way most unwizardly. Still, you had to respect a wizard who pulled off a flip over dragonfire. Even if he _was_ using magic to make himself stronger and faster than before.

When he got close enough to the dragon to throw a rock at it he did something nobody really seemed to expect. More dragon fire was belched at him but instead of dodging Harry was consumed by the flames. The audience gasped adn screamed while Dumbledore bolted upwards in his chair and looked panickedly between me and Harry. I gestured at the arena again and he sagged in relief.

Down below the dragon Harry grabbed the fake one and cradled it in one arm awkwardly. Combat apparition wasn't something I had initially planned to teach Harry, but after he did it by accident once to dodge one of my attacks I told him to try to get apparition down. It involved a lot of vomiting but Harry eventually learned to hold his food down while rapidly teleporting, though only within his line of sight or he took too long to reorient himself to be practical. He still couldn't muster the concentration to cast a spell immediately after apparating or do anything too physical without a second to rest, but it was still great for dodging and evasion.

With his egg in hand Harry grabbed his wand once more and raised it at the dragon's belly. He shouted something dramatically, causing the dragon to rear back in surprise at the tiny human under her as an orangish light flew from Harry's wand. The dragon swayed woozily for a moment at the overpowered nausea charm but roared in fury a moment later while Harry made a beeline for the exit. Fire followed him but at the last second he suddenly rolled left, the fire only drying out his hair.

With an angry dragon charging him Harry shouted again and waved, making a large black smoke cloud around him. The dragon screeched and belched fire into the cloud but nobody saw anything. After a second, though, Harry emerged near the exit, the egg in hand. Before the dragon could attack again he had escaped.

I whistled and clapped for the boy while the judges raised their wands and shot out their spells. An eight from Maxime, a ten from Dumbledore, and a seven from Karkoff. I would have let him get away with another six, honestly. Harry was too showy in his battle. I'd grade him a five if I could. The crowd loved it, though. They were cheering and clapping for the unorthodox methods Harry used and the acrobatics he had displayed.

I snorted when I remembered the backlash for the physical enhancement spells. They strained his muscles. Harry would have a body-wide cramp for almost half an hour, though potions would likely help him a lot.

"I suppose my work here is done?" I whispered to Dumbledore.

"Typically the judges stay to comment on the contestants," he murmured back to me.

"Thankfully I'm not a judge," I said, feeling pleased. I stepped back and teleported to the locker room, where I saw Harry groaning on a bench, Fleur and Cedric talking animatedly over him.

"Serves you right!" I said loudly over the two champions. Harry groaned. "Honestly, flips? I thought we went over this, kid! Corkscrews are better for conserving momentum and you could have easily gone under some of that fire more easily than over! You were showy and now you're paying the price. And why the dust didn't you combat apparate more?!" Harry groaned miserably. I growled and put a hand on him, loosening his muscles and relieving some of his pain.

"I was nervous… queasy," he managed to say.

"Oh so you put your life in more danger to avoid a tummy ache. Great. I can see that you need more lessons in holding in your food." Harry whimpered and the other two looked between me and him in shock, though Cedric was more prepared than Fleur.

"You can suffer here for fifteen more minutes. When you're well enough to get a soreness potion go to the mediwitch and ask for one. Get three, in fact, since you'll be feeling this tomorrow with how hard you pushed yourself and a spare never hurts." Harry nodded against the bench, grimacing in discomfort. I shook my head but paused before I left.

"Well, you got out alive. Good job on that. But don't think for a moment that I'm going to let you out of this mess of a performance without some sort of reprimand. If you're getting nervous because of crowds then I'll strip you naked and have you go through all your classes like that. Forever after when you're nervous you'll think back to that day and all that nervousness will fade away since you'll think 'nothing could be worse than that'." Harry's face was ashen. He probably didn't know whether I was serious or not. I certainly wasn't an orthodox teacher so it was possible that I'd follow through with that threat.

"I-is that teacher's abuse?" Cedric asked, shocked.

"I'm not a teacher, I'm a mentor," I responded immediately. "Now I believe Madam Maxime or somebody is going to come in here and give you a little golden egg to prepare you for the second task. It's a clue, you see." As if on cue the Madam opened the door and looked at the scene before her with concern.

"He's fine," I said dismissively. "Now my job here is done for today. I'll be seeing all of you later, and you, Harry, the day after tomorrow. Do light practice by yourself." Harry groaned again and I shrugged at him before leaving through teleportation. I had places to be.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I found the teigu-verse, as I had been calling it, growing on me. It truly was a horrible place. The Empire was blatantly corrupt, the rebels sponsored assassins for hire, the other nations were often as screwed up as the Empire, and even advanced science was only being used for those few rich assholes who were in power. I was sure that the world had seen better days, but at the moment it was just awful.

I could empathize with those assassins, night raid, but I remembered what had happened when I killed half the underworld of Vacuo. Chaos. Doing the same to the Empire probably wouldn't help much. It was better to burn the whole thing down and start anew or sponsor a less shitty government, like how I'd sponsored Roman, than reform the old one with all its corruption.

I'd recommend the annexation of the Empire by a foreign power but nobody was strong enough with powerful people like Esdeath and General Budo around, not to mention the teigu.

Ah, and teigu. They were wonderful things. Esdeath's was some sort of treated ice demon blood, as I had managed to get from her. If she was killed the blood would return to a chalice of some sort in the palace. But most teigu were tools rather than something so personal. Esdeath's was a bunch of cold and ice based affinities bonded to her through the blood in an intricate pattern of affinity and a few surprisingly strong enchantments. I looked at the chalice and saw a few foreign runes on it that I assumed maintained the enchantments somehow and returned the blood to it.

Each of the teigu also had a sizable bit of affinity, or in Esdeath's case, a bound soul that was the base of their abilities. After a careful check, I found that Esdeath had fragments of the ice demon in her soul, not that she knew I was looking. Other teigu in the vault had their own souls, some of them stronger than others. All of them were confined to their vessels, though, and couldn't really do anything other than fuel their items and dimly influence their hosts. Esdeath might be a little more murderous with a demon in her, but I had a suspicion that she was like that anyways, though that was just a hunch.

As I arrived not long after the first task of the triwizard tournament I was immediately met with Esdeath frowning at me.

"What do you do when you're away?" she asked again, apparently fascinated by my hobbies. I began walking towards the command tent with her at a brisk pace, the way we both liked it. As soon as I appeared men in dark black or grey armour stiffened and saluted both of us as we passed.

I was getting used to knights saluting me now. I assumed it was my strength and association with Esdeath that made them respect me. Sparring had been a common thing for us. I was a great fighter but Esdeath was able to push me in skill, though I eclipsed her in pure power. But I wasn't Abyss the spell flinging wizard here. I was Abyss the sneaky thief who had some sort of space manipulating teigu. I had to be smart rather than overwhelming, and sparring with Esdeath showed that I had been getting lazy with my fighting. Being restricted to space magic had forced me to get creative once more, making me develop a few new tricks.

"I told you, I live my life. I annoy people, tour the world, spend time with my girlfriend, play games, and do whatever I fancy."

"You have a schedule. What other kind of obligation could you have that's so important?" she asked.

"Now you're asking the right questions! Besides a girlfriend I have a sort of apprentice of sorts. He's a bit pathetic right now but people like you and I have high standards so don't take my word for it. I'd bet that he could beat a few of your knights, though. He battled a dragon this evening and managed to escape." Esdeath scoffed.

"Escape? Why not kill it?"

"Because he's about fourteen for one. Also, he's not a fighter. He has more important duties than fighting for all his life. He's a noble, you see. A ruler of man, though most of the people he associates with seem a little dim. A shame, really. He has a lot of potential that will probably never be used."

"Hmm," she hummed as we entered the tent. It was spacious, large enough to fit about twelve people with a central table upon which sat a large map of the north. On the fringes of the tent were several long tables with papers and a few weapons on them.

"We've been having trouble with supplies. The northmen seem to have the idea to harry us before we get north, where supplies are scarcer. We've torn through some of their villages, almost all of which are abandoned, to resupply but we're still being bled dry," Esdeath sumarized, taking a few papers from a table in the room. I nodded at the lack of developments. They were having the same problems as before, then.

"And have your powers over ice helped much?"

"More than expected," Esdeath twirled her fingers, little crystals of frost appearing between them only to melt when she closed her fist. "Pathways of ice along with the sleds we've taken from the northmen have helped transport supplies quickly. Causing and stopping blizzards is a new experience. I've never controlled so many small units of ice before. Snow is different, more liquid, but a blizzard is interesting." A cruel but pleased smile came onto her face. "I'd never sheared a man's skin off with a miniature blizzard before. It's a new usage for my power, if not the most useful one."

"Well good for you," I said casually. "And sensing through them?" Esdeath's smile dropped.

"Feeling through ice is… possible but difficult," she muttered in discontent. I smirked

"Aww, is it too difficult for you, Esdeath? It's okay. I'll still be your friend~." Esdeath repaid my teasing with an icicle to the face. She scowled when it went straight through my face and through the cloth walls of the tent.

"Tch," she scoffed. Ever since I had shown that I could fade out of space, making myself practically invincible, she had been a bit pissy about me showing my 'true strength'. So I showed off everything I could do with space and consequently she decided to expand her repertoire of ice based skills. Blizzards were new and she was getting better with them but she was having no progress with turning her body to ice. She was making some sort of trump card, though, and she wouldn't tell me about it. So I had been trying to make one for myself.

"And what have your efforts brought?" she asked sardonically. My smirk grew and I snapped my fingers. The cloth torn from the icicle Esdeath shot through it seemed to weave itself together, threads fusing to a solid fabric once more. Esdeath glared fiercely at the newly fixed spot in the tent walls while I basked in my superiority.

Brainstorming with Esdath wasn't something I had planned on, but she was surprisingly creative. I supposed you had to be to be considered the best torturer in the world, or at least the empire. What I was doing was using the closely linked relationship between space and time to reverse time on an object using spatial positioning. The threads weren't going back in time. They were returning to their previous position chronologically. It even worked on chemical changes like burning since I was returning atoms to their previous atomic formations. It didn't work well with things that became gaseous, though, so disintegrated objects couldn't be restored.

"No need to be jealous," I said, actually meaning the opposite, and Esdeath knew this as she shifted her glare to me. I met her glare with my smug satisfied smile and she growled and looked down at the map again.

"I'd like for you to transport supplies to my men," she said, changing the subject. "I can send you with a letter to any capital storehouse where you can bring all the supplies here."

"I thought this was your campaign?" I asked.

"It is," she said sharply. "But slowly grinding my way through the raids and gaining a few miles each day is simply boring for the both of us. Necessary in many cases, but not in this one."

"And I should give the northmen less time to prepare?" I asked, sitting down on a seat I made by warping the ground upwards.

"They are prepared," she said with an eye roll. "They have perfectly prepared fortifications and men ready to fight. They hope to delay for a month to train the men taken in from the evacuated villages more. It will do them no good, obviously. My force is larger and infinitely better trained, and I have teigu users with me. The north will fall. There is no debate."

"Why don't you tell them that?" I asked. Esdeath rolled her eyes.

"They know I intend to kill them, Abyss," she said obviously.

"Actually, I meant do the same thing I did when I met you. It's only right that you know what you're conquering before you destroy it, right?" Esdeath froze and stared at me.

"Why… yes. Yes it is… _only proper_," she said, a malicious grin creeping over her mouth.

"Well then let's go. However, I'm feeling rather hungry so let's visit their kitchens first." She shrugged, her smile still disturbingly pointed and wide. I made the portal to the city's palace, having visited it before to see if the northerners were much better than the Empire. As it turned out, the northerners practiced a somewhat vicious tradition of slavery and a clannish kind of politics, but other than that they weren't_ too_ bad. I still didn't mind conquering them, though.

I opened a portal to an unoccupied corner of the palace and gestured for Esdeath to follow. She almost stepped through, but hesitated and walked outside the tent.

"I'll be leaving with Abyss for a time. Find General Liver and tell him he's in charge until I get back."

"Yes, General Esdeath!" I heard somebody say before running off. Esdeath entered again and stepped through the portal. I came right after her and began casually walking towards the center of the palace.

When I came across two guardsmen at a small gate they weren't paying attention, both staring off into space and dressed in fur and some steel plates. When they noticed me they were on guard. Then they saw Esdeath and they turned an unhealthy pale. The one to the left of the gate turned and ran away but I warped space and pulled him back, leaving him trapped with one of my hands clenching his shoulder. I looked to the other guard to see Esdeath having severed his achilles tendon and watching him crawl away in amusement.

"Hello, friend," I said in as friendly a tone as I could manage, which was really friendly due to my acting skill, "Would you point us to the throne room?" The guard I had was silent so I clenched my hand harder, using a bit of aura, and heard metal crunch. The guard took a quick intake of breath and seemed to be almost hyperventilating.

"Th-the k-king isn't th-there right nuh-now." He was indeed hyperventilating. Esdeath was looking at me with interest.

"Did I ask where the king was?" I asked, putting a sharp edge to my voice. "I asked… where is the throne room?" I punctuated my question by trailing my hand closer to the guard's throat. When he felt my hand lift a little, though, he tried to break free to his left and run. My hand lashed out and I wrapped my hand around his throat, choking him enough that he felt like he was being choked but wasn't actually suffocating, yet at least.

"I'm waiting," I said calmly.

"Down the courtyard! Right turn! The main entrance is on your right-pleasedon'tkillme!" the man sobbed, collapsing onto his knees. I released my grip on his throat only to tap the side of his neck while sending a pulse of mind affinity into him that sent him to unconsciousness.

"How did he fall unconscious?" Esdeath asked.

"Thief's secret," I said. Esdeath shrugged and violently kicked the back of the head of her guard, who was leaving a bloody trail on the nice bricks that paved the path we were on.

"Well come on, then," I said as I merrily made my way down the path to the right as the guard instructed. When we came to the front gate of the castle, and it really was a castle, and a nice one at that, there were five guards in front of it looking very impressive for people who were basically decorations. I knocked them all out with five teleports and five pulses of mind affinity before trying to push open the huge oaken doors to enter.

It was locked.

I looked flatly at the door only to be pushed aside by Esdeath. "Allow me," she said as she placed her hand to the door. I sensed cold affinity and frost affinity creep through the door and an icicle grow up behind it, pushing up the bar holding it shut and sending it clattering to the floor. She neatly pushed the door open and stepped inside. I followed.

Inside the castle was actually quite nice. Some sort of unmelting ice was used everywhere. Chandeliers that would normally use glass or gems instead had hanging icicles, and the entry hall was lined with ice sculptures and busts made of ice.

"They're really into the whole ice thing, huh?" I noted.

"I believe they take their endurance for the cold to prove some sort of strength," Esdeath replied, walking through the hall and observing the sculptures.

"Say, this ice doesn't seem to melt. Do you think you could make statues yourself?" Esdeath waved a hand and in seconds a statue more detailed and fine than any other rose in the middle of the hall. It looked quite a lot like me and her crossing swords, our gazes intense and fierce. But more impressively was that some of the ice was colored slightly. Blue ice lined the edges of our weapons and features, giving a sharper, more distinctive look to us. I whistled in appreciation.

"You'd make a great sculptor. That's really beautiful," Esdeath looked at me a little surprised. "What?"

"You're the first person to ever say that I could be a sculptor," she said in amusement.

"Well you could," I argued, the two of us slowing to a stop right before the fancy engraved doors to the throne room. "Nobody can spend all their time being evil or slaughtering armies. People need breaks. I'm a thief but I'm also a great metalworker, a decent mechanist, a qualified surgeon, and a top tier chef. I can fight, sure, but fighting can't be all there is in a life. I know that eventually I'll retire from fighting and spend most of my time playing with my grandchildren or complaining about the kids these days. Maybe I'll start a courier service or something if I need something to do."

Esdeath looked at me strangely again but shook her head and pushed open the doors to the throne room, which were unlocked. It was empty but we looked around anyways.

"Hm? Nice mural," I said, looking at a variety of carvings circling the ceiling of the throne room. They looked to be read from left to right, all the stories starting at the throne and circling around the room. There were several lines so I picked one at random to make fun of. "A bunch of tribes exist, some of them unify under a strong looking guy, the others running away, a kingdom forms while the outsiders starve, ooh a white dragon attacks! And it's killed. How sad. I was rooting for the dragon. The king makes weapons and armour from its body and sits down, claiming the seat with a bunch of toadies. Lovely story. "

Esdeath smirked. "Some people lived near icy shores. Truly they were geniuses to embrace such cold waters."

"I'm so proud of you." I grinned.

"Naturally, the ocean froze, honestly what were they expecting," she continued. "But of course there was a brave hunter, very manly. He took his toothpick - sorry, harpoon - and stabbed the ice, shattering it somehow. A giant salmon appeared, a fearsome foe for any fisherman, and he tickled it's belly until it passed out with his toothpick. Then he lugged it home and married it, coining the term fishwife."

I snickered at her mocking and looked at the empty throne, which looked to be made of ice. I walked up to it and poked it, wincing. "Actually, that's really cold." Esdeath came up to it and sat right onto it, reclining and laying her head on her left fist.

"Cozy," she said.

"Oh excuse me, your frostiness, clearly I was just unworthy of freezing my ass off."

"I'm certainly _hot_ enough to ignore the cold," she said innocently. I froze for a second before erupting into a full blown laugh that echoed through the hall.

"It wasn't that funny," she said, looking away. I raised an eyebrow at her blush but when she looked back at me with narrowed eyes I made myself look normal again.

"So does the throne meet your standards or should we find a better kingdom to conquer?" I asked sarcastically. Esdeath sighed dramatically and turned to the side, lounging across the arms of the throne, her pale legs kicked out and her hair down.

"Hmm, I think it needs a few peons to look after me, perhaps to admire my strength and bulging muscles. Should I hunt something impressive-looking and carve it on the walls?"

"Didn't you tame a dragon or something?" I asked in amusement.

"Oh, yes!" She snapped her fingers, as though in revelation. "Let's just put my mural up there in gold. I'm already the manliest out of all their kings if that's the measurement."

"And the most feminine too," I said sardonically. "Oh Lady Esdeath how do the stars shine when compared to you?"

"You forgot that I'm generous too. I allow it out of pity." She turned her nose up at me comedically.

"Ah, true. My grovelling needs work." We snickered a moment longer together, having fun making fun of the king.

"Come on. You said something about being a master chef?" Esdeath said leadingly.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"OH!" Esdeath moaned as she took the first bite of some bacon wrapped chicken I made.

"It's good, but not that good," I said, mystified. I was a great chef. A fantastic one, even, and I had a king's larder (literally) to work with. But who reacted that strongly to some great food?

"I've eaten from palaces and kingdoms across the land… this is the best!" she declared.

"It's just bacon, chicken, and some spices," I said, confused.

"And you did it perfectly," she said in perfect seriousness. "You'll be cooking for me from now on."

"No," I said instantly.

"Yes, you will be." 

"You can't make me."

"_I will find a way_," she said dangerously.

"I'll poison your meals."

"If they taste this good it will be worth it. Have you ever tasted army rations, Abyss?"

"No, and I don't want to. If you want decent meals, learn how to teleport." Esdeath stared at me calmly with an intensity I had only seen before when we were fighting.

"Fine.\," she said.

"What?"

"I'll learn to teleport," she said seriously. I scoffed.

"Have fun," I said with a condescending smile. Then I heard a thump from behind me. "Hey! We didn't even hurt any of you! Shut up!" The cooks and more menial servants we had tied up and locked in an empty pantry were acting up again.

"Go deal with them," Esdeath said as she cut another strip from the chicken and bacon. She groaned a little more quietly when she ate this time, but it was still audible.

"Actually…" I trailed off and went to the pantry. A young boy was squirming around on the floor. When he saw me he froze. I pulled him upwards and pulled a dagger from my soul space and cut his ties. He looked at me fearfully and stayed quiet. "Come on. I don't want to clean the dishes." I pulled him out of the pantry and pushed him lightly to the dirty dishes and an empty wooden tub.

"Esdeath, could you fill this tub with ice and melt it?" I asked. The boy looked at me in naked horror, like I had asked her to kill me. She looked away from her food for a moment and waved her hand. Snow appeared in the tub from nothing. "You can't melt it?" She let out an impatient sigh and the snow melted somewhat, becoming more like slush.

"For goodness sake, hold on." I reached into my soul space and pulled out a tiny low grade fire dust crystal, about the size of my middle finger but thicker. I dunked the crystal in the water and pushed some aura into it. It crackled and popped under the water and dissolved to nothing as its energy was released.

"What?" the boy said, dumbfounded by the now somewhat warm water.

"I've been around. This kind of crystal decomposes in water. I use them sometimes when I can't make a fire but they're kind of expensive. Like thirty to thirty five Empire gold coins per crystal. Maybe twenty five if you're lucky." The boy looked at me in horror again at the, to him, exorbitant price and I shrugged. "Money's disposable."

"Mm, I'm done," Esdeath announced as she pushed her plate away.

"Well I thought we'd be caught by now. I don't know where the guards are or the king, but their castle is pretty great besides the cold."

"I think they're out running drills," Esdeath said uncaringly. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Care to go look at the king's room?"

"Sure," I shrugged. The boy looked up hopelessly, probably praying for us two insane people who casually violated his king's quarters to leave. "So which way to the king's bedroom?" I asked the child. He froze and looked at me with wide eyes again. I waited a few seconds.

"I-uh-up the stairs my lord. Um, that way." He pointed shakily at a side door opposite of the throne room.

"Alright then. Thanks, kid. Good luck with those dishes." I was about to walk away but paused and walked to the pantry again. I pulled out a lockpick Bella had given to the whole of the subI club all that time ago and broke the lock. The weak black iron was easily broken by my modern steel lockpick, which I had enhanced with my metal affinity. Then I left the room.

"Run to your king if you care to. We're getting rather bored of his castle," Esdeath said to the kid, who looked between us as nervously as ever and drew in on himself as he washed his dishes harder. Esdeath shrugged and followed me out of the room.

The stairs were just to my left and I climbed up to the top of the castle and looked around. I assumed the purple painted fancy door was the one to the king's quarters so I kicked it wide open, breaking the lock.

"Nice place," I said, looking around. He really had the whole king thing on lock. He had a fancy silk bed with comfortable looking furs, two wardrobes probably full of outfits, a bathroom that might have plumbing, and a great view of the whole capital city through a window. I leapt onto his bed and bounced on my back. I happily noted that I could still see out the window.

"A little rustic for my tastes, but a king's room nonetheless," Esdeath said, sitting down on the bed beside me and looking over the city. "I think I could easily take that row of courtyards. That will be a wonderful place to break enemy lines should they muster at the castle."

"Sure, sure, plot away," I said as I continued looking around the room.

"Better tactics based on information I gain here could save my men's lives," Esdeath said with a sort of dignity to her. I chalked it up to pride as a general.

"And lives lost for the northerners. It makes no difference to me." Esdeath frowned at me.

"How sad. So the lives of my men and the northerners are equal to you?"

"If your men break through the defenses they'll pillage and rape before you drop an occupying force here to annex it for the Empire. If the northerners win, which I can see clearly they won't, they'll be left weakened and many more will die, perhaps of starvation or the disease from the corpses that will lie in the streets. I don't owe loyalty to the Empire or the north. I'm only here because I find this place interesting, and after travelling the world I know that no matter how many die here humanity will live on in better places than this. When you know that there are so many people, so many places and things, people dying or suffering just becomes… less important. People stop being good or evil and just become people because what they do just matters that much less with how big the worlds are."

"Worlds?" Esdeath said. I groaned.

"Whoops."

"What do you mean?"

"I can teleport between dimensions. I'm a dimension traveller," I said, not really caring what she thought about it.

"… I've seen stranger things." She shrugged. I was silent but thankful that I didn't have to go through some sort of process of proving it or anything. "It is sad, though," she continued, "that you see the worlds as so large that you mean so little."

"Family makes it easier. Focusing on little things, things that feel important to me personally, makes it easier. It's not what you do that makes life worth living. It's the people in it. Helping to make the things in front of me a little better every time is another good way, though not everybody enjoys that."

"Family…" Esdeath said quietly. She laid down on the bed next to me and we stared down at the city together for a few minutes.

"Huh?" I muttered as I saw a few people moving frantically towards the castle, charging horses at breakneck speeds. "Well it took them long enough. Come on, lets meet them in the throne room and gloat before leaving."

"Lets," Esdeath agreed, pushing off the hero's bed. We hurried a little down the stairs and walked to the throne. Esdeath reclined on it, legs crossed with her rapier across her lap looking very dramatic while I sat on the right arm of the throne and prepared to enjoy the show.

It took a few minutes for them to arrive, in which Esdeath and I discussed ways to properly gloat. But finally a loud bang echoed through the throne room as a proud and furious looking man stalked in, spear in hand. He looked in hatred at Esdeath and I on the frosty throne. A group of soldiers trailed behind him, at least fifty armed men in armor crowding the hall, weapons naked.

"Who's that?" I whispered to Esdeath.

"Numa, the prince. He leads the military," she whispered back. "Numa. I see you've finally decided to join us."

"How did you get here, demon?" he growled.

"I walked through the front door. Couldn't you tell?" She gestured to the wide open castle door. Numa glared a little harder.

"And yet you haven't stormed our home with your army of bandits and thugs," he spat. "You stand here alone but for an aide. Have you come to announce your egress of the north?"

"I'll leave when you beg on your knees like a dog to lick my feet and your kingdom is fallen, Numa." The way Esdeath said this was as though it was perfectly obvious when she was going to leave.

"You'll find your army battered against our walls, demon," Numa growled. "So why have you come here? To die?"

"Power," Esdeath said.

"The norm, then. Arrogance."

"Hardly," she scoffed. "I am confident. Confident that your walls will crumble and your fighters will perish. It would only be arrogance if it were not to happen and we both know that my men are superior to your desperate attempt at a militia."

"The people of the Northern Tribes stand together, craftsman, hunter, or warrior all. Each and every single one of us will defend our home. Now once again, demon, why are you here?" Esdeath rolled her eyes and got up slowly from the throne in a way that screamed confidence.

"Because I can be, you pathetic footnote of a prince," she said callously. "I came because I felt that you could not stop me. And now here you are, unable to stop me. If you are incapable of realizing my presence in your most sacred of places then you are most certainly incapable of stopping me from doing anything I want. So I did whatever I wanted to."

"Thus your statue defacing the walk of ancestors," Numa bristled.

"Your entrance hall filled with weak men who led weaker cowards? I felt that you could use a reminder that real strength comes from those that do, not those that are known."

"Enough," he yelled in fury. "You dare to enter our castle-"

"Obviously."

"And deface our history?!"

"Once more."

"You will die, demon! Your flesh will feed our pigs and your head will be mounted on our-pfuf!" I inturrupted the man by socking him in the gut from right beside Esdeath. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"He bored me. It was getting repetitive. Also, are you taking the monicker of demon as a compliment?"

"Why, yes," Esdeath said with a smile. It seemed like slugging Numa had been as amusing for her as it had been for me.

"CHARGE!" Numa yelled. I focused my space affinity and increased the inertia in the air of the throne room by an order of magnitude, though I didn't affect Esdeath or myself of course. Numa immediately strained to move his legs, like he was wading through thick mud rather than air.

"You… what did you do?!" he said through gritted teeth, muscles straining. A few of his men fell at the unexpected resistance to their movement. It was almost comical how they slowly fell back only to softly bump the floor.

"I can alter space," I told him. "I just made space a lot harder to move through. I could have made the space between us a mile long or something but this is more fun to watch." Numa stopped trying to run towards us and fell into a defensive stance with his spear.

"Goodbye, Prince Numa." Esdeath took a few steps towards him, not seeming threatened in the slightest. "And remember…" She leaned close to Numa's ear and whispered for a few seconds. Numa's face contorted into fear and rage as she stepped back. I silently made a portal back to the camp and she stepped through it. I waved at Numa as I left.

"I'll see you around, Prince. Don't worry, I'm not with the Empire. Esdeath is the only person in this world I really care about at the moment and she wants to fight you so she will. Are you as excited as I am?" I smirked arrogantly and left, the smirk immediately vanishing, though I was amused at my deceptive words. Esdeath was the only person I knew in the teigu-verse but she was more of a friend that was always interesting to be around.

"So that was pretty fun," I said in the command tent. Esdeath, looking over her maps on the table, nodded.

"It… was," she said, pausing for some reason.

"Hm. Well, if there's nothing else I'm going to go elsewhere now."

"Other worlds?" she asked, looking at me through the corner of her eye.

"My girlfriend's apartment," I said dryly. "A world of old furniture, rather loud neighbors, and a lot of kisses." Esdeath blushed a little and looked back at her maps.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said. I nodded and stepped back as I disappeared from the world, happy with the fun I had with Esdeath.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Honey, I'm hoooome!" I called out, in a good mood.

"Mrrgf," Kuroka grunted from her room. I crossed the living room and peeked inside to see her clothing torn and a few lightly bandaged wounds on her.

"Bad day?" I asked, already putting my hands on her back and working my magic.

"Horrible," she groaned. "The Brigade's been more passive since Ophis has been toning down her backing with you around to give her silence. The Old Devil faction's been striking out on their own. My sister's peerage showed up and wrecked some stuff but got beaten. I showed up to make sure my sister was okay and saw the Leviathan and Beezlebub smackdown the Old faction. But I had to step in when this one asshole took on my sister's peerage in their weakened state. I got my butt kicked, but he died."

"You make it sound like you didn't kill him…"

"I held him off until Sirzechs arrived." I winced.

"That must have been hard to get away from." Kuroka groaned again.

"Can you, like… call in Ophis to kick all their butts? Or do it yourself and sort through all the assholes, nyah? You told me about taking Vale with Torchwick. Can you do something similar here?" I thought for a moment before a lightbulb might as well have appeared above my head.

"I think I can, actually. Do you need to sleep tonight?" Kuroka shook her head and I grinned as plots formed in my head, most of them involving me going in and wrecking everything. Dealing with a whole faction would need a lot of power, though. I had a cult, sure, but I wasn't confident that they were ready for something as large as the old Satan faction yet. My cult was mostly composed of humans, albeit ones with my blessings. Pureblooded devils were too much for them. So I needed a power-up or I was risking a lot.

Finally, an excuse to use those points I keep hoarding.

"No, I don't need sleep. I need you to kiss my boo-boos." She pulled me down into the bed, making me put aside my plots of world domination. Cuddles were more important according to Kuroka.

**AN: I thought about putting a lemon here. It didn't feel like the right place. Cuddling and fluff is equally important to lewdity. Is that a word? *Checks* Yes, that's a word. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm glad I have these chapter buffers. I've been stuck on one chapter for like a week and a half. It's been really annoying. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 5**= ||||]

I had rolled around the thought of actually using my points a few more times and finally sighed and came to my conclusion. I was OP compared to most people but I was also a bit of a glass cannon. A strong blast from, say, Sirzechs, the leader of the Devils and one of the strongest beings in DxD, could end me if I wasn't tapping into the void. Maybe my affinity for void would act on it's own and defend me, as my affinities sometimes do, but that wasn't something to be counted on.

And DxD, where there were a lot of absurdly strong people with a lot of crazy abilities, was someplace I liked to go to and shouldn't just leave to fester when I could be dealing with threats to me or people close to me. Kuroka was hardly made of glass, but not helping her out was shirking my duty as her boyfriend.

I eventually came to the thought of 'how many of these points is Kuroka worth to me'. The answer was all of them. Knowing that I could tap into the void and kill an untold number of beings made them worth a lot less to me. So if I was willing to give that much I was willing to give a good amount. About a thousand would do.

So a thousand was what I was going to spend.

I warped to a different universe that was uninhabited and cast my senses out. There was nothing. The world I was on was basically Mars but with an atmosphere. I couldn't even see any grass. Perfect.

I sat down and opened the old interface. I noted a few point gains and dismissed them. But I had some preparation to do before I did anything drastic. I went a few miles away and disposed of everything in my soul space. I had to be extremely careful to not break anything considering I had a house and my airship in there but I got it done. My soul was about to shift massively and I didn't want anything bad to happen in it.

I wrote down some circles of runes to hold affinity and filled them with my various types before releasing my elementals, who made various noises of disgruntlement at finally being let loose from my soul, where they slept all the time. I still felt a connection to them so I transmitted what I was doing to them through my aura and severed it with void, hoping to remake it later. I did the same to my panther soul, albeit with a slightly different runic circle.

Finally I got naked (I liked my clothes) and teleported to the other side of the planet, which was about the same as before except the soil was a dark brown rather than red. I could also see a sea of some sort in the distance but I didn't think the liquid was water. It didn't matter.

Hoping that I wasn't overreacting, I mentally allocated the points I had to intelligence and wisdom, the only stats that really mattered, and allocated some points to luck for good measure. I took a deep breath and committed the alloca-

_PAIN_

I felt my soul wracked with it, not a white-hot pain but a more deep pain, like a growing pain amplified by a few thousand times. I saw a sharp red light shining from my body, making a sphere of red around me. Farther out of my little red sphere an oppressive blue haze took precedence and elements raged. Lightning boomed and thunder cracked, fire roared, ice grew on the ground only to be broken moments later, light warped and thrashed, and space itself bent. I didn't see void but it didn't really have a color besides an empty black when it ate light.

I noted a distant burning sensation as I fell to the ground but it was overshadowed by the deep pain. I tried to get up but found my flesh melting into the ground and my muscles uncontrollable. I was… burning? Collapsing? Something clicked in my mind. My runes! My energies were so utterly unbalanced and that was reflected in my runes. I was surging with power and my runes couldn't handle that. With them directly connected to my muscles and enhancing my body that meant they were destroying me from the inside out.

As I came to this conclusion I felt a jump in my chest and my vision went black before coming back blurred. The jump came again, weaker, and my vision darkened. A heart attack? I'd never had one of those before.

My vision blackened one last time, somehow deeper than before, and my vision faded but the pain remained. In the back of my mind I noted the loss of my body, likely physical death, and felt disappointment at my lack of foresight. I had a few ideas, though. I had learned a few breakthroughs in runes with Poledina. I also had a better life affinity and far more precise control. I could probably get through puberty without disrupting the delicate processes in it. Perhaps I could take traits from magical races now that I could travel worlds?

The pain wracked me and I waited patiently for it to cease. I didn't keep time well when I was so distracted by my internal changes.

My affinities were going haywire and mage sight was useless with all the affinity screwing up the environment. My energies were also in flux, making me trapped in my changing soul. So I looked at what I was gaining.

My aura and mana wove together, making an elaborate tapestry of some sort. But unlike the other times where they made one coherent whole they began to specialize. Thick concentrations of aura and mana collected at the edges of my soul, encapsulating it in a membrane. A dense seed of aura and a little trace of mana in the center was something I knew instinctively to be my core, where most of my aura and mana were.

I also had a few other 'organs' of varying use, each of which I knew like the back of my hand. One was like the golgi apparatus in a cell, except my soul organ connected my soul to my followers more strongly than before and it would probably connect to my elementals too. It might be able to help form more coherent and stronger messages of intent in my aura as a way of communication.

Another was dedicated to expelling intruders, a crude non-sentient mass of aura and void standing constantly at the ready. There was even a strange tentacle of some sort dedicated to fine manipulation beyond what I could do before as well as extending the reach of my soul if I wanted to directly interact with something from a distance. I could probably perform surgery on a grain of dust now or cast spells more efficient and complex than ever before, provided that I created them.

Finally was a sort of portal. Through it I felt my soul space but also the presence of my other affinities in sort of realms of their own. Only space had actual… _space_ but the others had little seeds of compressed affinity and my soul in their own space. They weren't connected to me directly but linked to me. There was only one I could recognize. Void. I… had a connection to other planes of reality like the greater void? But they seemed so weak. Shouldn't they be infinite masses of power? And on closer look void seemed to be far less than infinite. I probably released more void than the void in this dimension just by existing.

Even through the pain of my soul growing, though it was waning now, I touched one of these dimensions and felt its… desires? It was sentient? It was so strange, almost like an extension of me but not separate, though it had its own desires, even if it only had one. To grow.

Experimentally I grasped my ice affinity, running rampant around me, and plugged it into the ice sub-dimension. The dimension absorbed it greedily, soaking in affinity. I separated the link and the dimension complied, letting go immediately, though it felt petulant. I tapped the dimension and felt that I could draw from it like it was the greater void, though it was far from infinite.

… I enthusiastically plugged my other affinities into their respective sub-dimensions and reached out with the soul-tentacle I now had, sucking in affinity from the environment. It was with near-giddiness that I found a dimension for mana too, though I couldn't feel one for aura. That made sense. Aura was me, after all, and my soul was finite.

The pain was faint now and the environment was clear so I opened my senses to the world around me, seeing through my light affinity, which I disappointedly found stopped it from focusing on its sub-dimension. The landscape was beyond simply wrecked. It was annihilated. The ground looked like an angry god had descended. The uncontrolled destruction had torn gashes across the land for miles, leaving pockets of ice or undying fires or strange formations of twisted metal across the land with no rhyme or reason.

Things got even worse when my chaos affinity got involved. It twisted things into forms that were possible but completely unfeasible. On the plus side, I was now the creator of life in this dimension, having made a mushroom that absorbed light for… some reason. I left it to be as I eagerly looked at my new stats.

**Abyss Mavros**

**Title: Archwizard of void; The Storm**

**Level – 484**

**HP – NA (NA/min)**

**AP – 1,038,680 (51,934/min)**

**MP - 22,782,000 (1,139,100/min)**

**STR - NA (+500%) + 206.8= NA**

**VIT - NA (+500%) + 206.8= NA **

**DEX - NA (+500%) + 206.8= NA**

**INT - 1034 (+1150%)= 11,391**

**WIS - 1029 (+1150%) = 12,983.5**

**LUK - 253 (+0%)= 253**

**POINTS - 600**

I would have laughed in disbelief if I had a mouth. Instead I released a small pulse of aura infused with both happiness and disbelief by reflex. I was confused with my new reaction but I checked my affinities a moment later to find equally ridiculous results, my multiplier increased to sixteen times rather than eight times and a small counter for the affinity stored in my sub-dimensions.

The skills were, while as much a force multiplier as always, not game-changing. They fell in with what I had expected. The biggest changes were a skill called Soulful to double my aura capacity, a skill called Synchronicity to add the base strength of my unused affinities to the ones in use, one more called Magical Overlay to give 20% of my INT to the final product of my physical skills, and of course my new soul skill called Godly Soul and the new mana multiplier, called Realm of Mana. They were all extremely powerful but mostly improvements to my already existing skills.

But after my perusal of my new powers, my mood took a turn. I had lost my body, the body I had worked so hard on to slowly build up muscle and stamina. I had a lot of attachment to it even if it was technically my second body. Now I had to make a new one.

Thankfully it shouldn't take longer than maybe twelve hours. But it was work, and grueling work at that. But my new magic tendril should make constructing my new body a breeze, and I had a whole multiverse of DNA to search.

My mood went back to gleeful as I catalogued DNA to steal. A skill called overmind I had gained at 700 INT coordinated my parallel minds flawlessly, making my mind more like one than twenty, a great increase from the nine parallels I had before.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I tested my new ears with a tap, feeling them flatten effortlessly onto my head, becoming nigh-invisible. I flexed my hands, reveling in the power in them, and licked my lips, tasting a hundred other scents on the wind.

I had gone a little overboard, but the end result was well worth it. I had to work hard to assimilate the DNA I collected with my own DNA, which I collected from my corpse. It wasn't a pretty sight, being nearly half fused into the ground. That I had lasted as long as I had was a testament to my VIT and possibly because of the runes being supercharged.

I had added a few features. I had wanted a far more flexible body than before so I had bones based on rubber rather than osteocytes in some places and exotic metals in others. I used a similar rubber based compound for my veins, which let me have a higher blood pressure than normal, allowing smaller veins. My heart handled it easily, being made of a powerful living-metal that pulsed with a steady, slow beat. I had a smaller second heart nestled between my lungs for combat and purifying my body of blood poisonings. My blood was still blood but it was a little different than normal, being produced by a few specific tiny complicated organs in me. Not all of my body had or needed blood so the process worked.

I wavered on my muscles a little, trying to find a more powerful alternative than before. I decided on muscles made of a similar living-metal to my heart, though they were more devoted to power than durability like my heart. Nerves were where I had the most trouble, but tiny tubes a hundred times smaller than my veins with mirrored insides were the best I came up with. Light was faster for transmitting signals, after all, than electricity.

Even my skin was better than before. I ended up with a shapeshifting one that bunched up in areas to redirect or absorb blunt or sharp blows and was extremely resistant to chemical or thermal attacks. There wasn't much I could do against things like magical attacks, but my soul was powerful enough that there was very little to worry about on that front to begin with.

The only downside was that I missed a day from Harry's training and had to send a note to Kuroka and Esdeath apologizing for missing a few days. I explained to the two that I made a mistake and was indisposed while I recovered from a bodily injury. I didn't want to tell Kuroka that I was a corpse in an alternate dimension and I hadn't really filled Esdeath in on the whole magic thing.

All in all I spent over seventy hours collecting DNA. Then I spent five more days drafting a new body to work together. Finally was making the damned thing, which was made yet more difficult by the concentration required to smooth over the fine details. I actually messed up twice before I got the body right. I spent almost nine days making a new body, not a moment wasted. But despite all the trouble I went through I wasn't disappointed.

I reached out and smacked a cliff on the dead world, sending stone flying. I brushed dust off my knuckles, which weren't even slightly bruised. Not that that would be a problem if they were since I would heal in moments. Then I extended my new claws from my fingertips and slashed the side of the rock formation. I may as well have slashed butter. They weren't monomolecular claws but they were sharp enough that it didn't matter much. With my physical stats around six hundred and eight hundred I even had the strength to force my way through most barriers even with regular weapons, provided they didn't break.

I felt great, absolutely on top of the world. Why was I so afraid to spend my points again? It seemed silly now, but most fears were. I almost continued to test my body against the solid stone but pulled myself back. I was stalling at this point and I had been for the past hour. It was time to face the music. I shifted to Kuroka's apartment to find it messier than usual. I heard her sleeping in her room and silently opened the door and stepped next to her.

"I'm back," I whispered to her. Her eyes instantly opened fully, sleep barely present, as she grabbed my wrist and blinked for a second. Then she reached out and pulled me in for a hug. I was about to hug back when she slugged me in the gut.

"OW!" she yelled, holding her hand to her chest. "What the heck?!"

"So I've been working on some stuff, most of it related to making my body," I said in amusement.

"Making it what?" she asked, eyes narrowing and ears twitching dangerously.

"… Making it," I said, a hint of nervousness in my voice. I had decided to not modify my voice box. Speech was important socially and controlling my voice more than everybody else felt dishonest so the nervousness was something I had to actually try to hide.

"Are you saying that this body…" Kuroka paused in her furious questioning as she pulled me close again and sniffed. "You smell dusty. And new… I don't like it. I'm also pissed at you."

"I didn't die on purpose," I said weakly. "And it wasn't like my soul died. My body just kinda-"

"Oh Abyss you are in SO much trouble!"

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Sorry for missing a few days. Injury," I said in explanation to Esdeath from behind her. She jumped and had her rapier pointed at my throat as another hand…

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were naked," I apologized sheepishly as I closed my eyes.

"DON'T do that!" she hissed. I heard a ruffle of cloth as she dressed herself. "It's the middle of the night! Just… what happened?!"

"Grievous injury. I was fine with some time but I had to see somebody similar to this Doctor Stylish you have. And then I had to visit my girlfriend. She didn't take my injury well. I'm in the doghouse, as ironic as that is." I thought it was safe to open my eyes and did so to see Esdeath in silk pyjamas, her hair looser than normal down her back.

"Quite," she said with a small roll of her eyes. "You were supposed to visit every day."

"I failed that, I know," I apologized.

"That means you broke our agreement."

"One without a beneficial side on my part," I muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. Esdeath glared at me, having clearly heard what I said. I waited in silence for a moment before her rapier lashed out. I sidestepped it and yanked on it, sending her stumbling forwards at my newfound strength. I almost swept her legs out from under her but instead found her pulling herself forwards faster from it's grip and shoving an icy knife into my gut. A sharp sound echoed out as it shattered.

Esdeath blinked, looking down at the knife, She moved it around a little but the tiny injury she made on me, basically a papercut, didn't really hurt. It was the surprise attack that let her get a strike on me in the first place. That and me barely remembering to hold back my aura.

"Explain," she growled as she looked up at me.

"As I said, I visited somebody like Doctor Stylish. A biomancer, if you will," I said calmly. "I wasn't exactly normal before but now I'm not really… I'm much less normal than before, which is saying a lot."

"Saying a lot with very little," she growled again. She knelt down, her face near my abs, and her knife shifted to a chisel as a hammer from ice formed in her other hand.

"Really?" Esdeath ignored me as she hammered down on my stomach. I barely felt it. "You know how this looks, right?" Esdeath paused as she looked down just a little and coughed as she tossed the tools aside.

"Your body is absurdly tough, almost as hard as dragon scales with only skin. How?" she demanded, her tone almost jealous.

"Magic," I said.

"Obviously. How?"

"Well you know I can travel worlds, right?" She nodded. "Well I collected biological samples of exotic lifeforms and brought them to this biomancer to be made into me. I didn't expect the procedure to take so long or I would have offered prior warning."

"Assimilating danger beasts into a human? I suppose… oh my. Ultra class?" She looked at me with a feverish curiosity.

"That system of measurement doesn't really work for anything besides subjective measurement, but I killed a few very strong creatures, yes. My heart, for one thing, was replaced with a type of living metal. Even if you pierced it, it could keep pumping around your blade."

"… I will forgive you for your absence if you provide similar upgrades to me, if lesser," she bargained.

"I'm not stupid, Esdeath."

"Then why did you take so long to return?" she snarled.

"Because my previous body couldn't work. At all," I said slowly. "I couldn't just slap together some inadequate replacement. All this had to be brought together from scratch."

"From scratch? Are you not in your original body?" Esdeath looked at me a little skeptically.

"Technically this is my fourth but yes this is a different one."

"How… you don't use a teigu..." she said in realization.

"I'm a magic-user."

"Most magic users are weaklings," she said in disdain.

"Well I'm quite clearly not. It's likely that your magicians are incompetent or too rare to make any serious research. I had a dead civilization to take knowledge from and a more advanced society than yours. I had a lot going for me, not to mention that I'm apparently quite talented." Esdeath bit her bottom lip lightly, which I realized was actually pretty cute compared to her other habits of torture and slaughter, and thought for a moment.

"Have you been holding back in our fights?" she asked with more suspicious looks.

"I've been restricting myself to one school of magic, yes, though it's one of my most versatile ones and the progress I've made with it was real. I also wasn't really restricting myself in melee combat, though I've always used a type of my magic to supplement it."

"And how much stronger are you than you've let on?"

"Very."

"How much?"

"VERY."

"Give me an example."

"The Empire." She glared at me. "That was a viable example!" I defended myself.

"How is that an example?" she asked, fuming.

"That was an example of what I could destroy given ten minutes to really let loose. This is without calling on a higher power. Then again, it's easy to kill everybody in a given area. It's much harder to implement a lot of force in a small area without hurting your comrades or valuable targets." Esdeath was still scowling furiously at me.

"I'd like an example," she said frostily.

"… Fine," I said, resigned to the fact that my life was dictated by pushy women. I grabbed her wrist and transported us to the dead world I was at when I made my body. Esdeath turned and looked at all the red rocks and dusty land.

"The air is so…" Esdeath muttered.

"This world doesn't have much water. Most of it is dry land like this. The atmosphere is thankfully in place. There's four moons, though, which leads to some pretty strange tides in that ocean. There's also no bacteria or viruses. Life is literally gone from this planet."

"It's eerie."

"It's also a great place to let loose." I raised my hand and my lightning affinity, twice as powerful as before, reacted with a surge of as much mana as I could use the spell with to call down a lightning bolt from the sky. A hundred miles away a massive lightning bolt slammed down. I waited a few seconds for the destruction to settle.

"Alright, it shouldn't be horrible to visit now," I declared. I opened a portal and stepped inside, Esdeath following after. A short flex of affinity swept all the dust away from the site so it didn't sting Esdeath's eyes.

The land was blackened. A black line of char leading a few yards away led north while all the land in a circle around it was slightly blackened. Directly at the line of impact was a crater about the size of half an exercise ball.

Esdeath slammed her foot down on the ground. "It's stone," she noted. "Not exactly unbreakable but it's a sizable impact. How could something like this destroy the Empire?"

"Because that's what I can make with a tenth of a second to gather power. I have an affinity for storms. It's my second most powerful affinity. If I wanted to destroy the Empire I could create a storm that covered the Empire quickly and rain down lightning on anything important looking. Or I could take ten minutes to collect an absurd amount of power and simply destroy the entire capital."

"I see…" Esdeath turned to me. "I want to get stronger." I rolled my eyes at such an obvious answer. Of course my strength appealed to her.

"Why? You're one of the strongest people on your world already."

"I want to hunt more dangerous prey," she said impatiently. "I wish to become stronger and grow to become more deadly than any danger beast. The Empire offers me conflict so I serve it. However, it only holds me back when there is an opportunity to become as dangerous as you seem to be. So I would rather serve you if you can offer me conflict."

I looked to her a little incredulously, though that quickly faded. She only served the horrible evil bastards that ran the Empire so she could fight and learn to become more deadly? That made sense from a certain point of view. It was supply and demand. She demanded conflict and the Empire was the best provider of it. It wasn't a personal attachment. It was a business deal.

"So you want me to make you stronger? Or do you want violence?" Esdeath considered that.

"I wish for strength. I enjoy violence, crave it really, but I admit… I've thought about your words. I will not be a warrior forever. I want something to have after I sheathe my sword."

"You want strength so you can retire peacefully?"

"I want strength so I can enjoy my passions and perhaps win peace for myself."

"You could collapse the Empire if you wanted to. I know how loyal your men are to you. Why not do so and retire with servants to serve your every whim? You are strong enough to secure a peaceful place for yourself."

"Peace is not waiting to die in the midst of a loyal army," she said, annoyed.

"Then what is peace for you?"

"Private." I looked at her for a moment where she met my gaze challengingly.

"Good enough," I nodded. "I know how you could get stronger. You're technically already on your way there with your studies on your teigu. But I'm not just going to give it to you, obviously. I don't live in the Empire so you'll have to leave it."

"Done," she said immediately.

"Secondly, I want you to finish your goals. This is for your own good, really." She looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Leave no loose threads," I explained. "You have responsibilities to the Empire and obligations you've made. Leave the Empire when you can, destroy it, or stick with it and dominate the world, but don't just walk away. That's no different from running. Finish seeing to your problems before you retire from this world and I show you more."

"That's reasonable." She nodded to me. "And the rest?"

"Stop being such a sadist. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the pain you inflict on your enemies or allies if they're willing but on helpless civilians and enemies you've already defeated it's… well, despicable. Tone it down somewhat. I try to leave everywhere I pass a little better off than before, ignoring events that would happen without my intervention. I'd like for you to adopt this policy." Esdeath nodded, though she seemed much less happy with this requirement than the others.

"And that would be all?"

"That's everything. Finish your responsibilities before you leave forever and hold your habits in check, though you don't have to get rid of them entirely. I'm not asking for you to change yourself. Just control yourself." I paused and thought of something else. "Also, what's that secret project you have? I'm getting REALLY curious."

"I'm not telling," she said with a pout at me. I blinked in surprise because I had never seen her pout at me before. What was up with her? First the lip biting, then the pushiness and almost concern for me losing my body and now this?

"But here's the problem. I've got some cat in me and the curiosity is killing me here."

"I'm a sadist."

"I could help you out. I have some powers over ice too, you know?" I clenched my hand and a dagger made of ice formed in it. Esdeath blinked at it and looked between me and the dagger. An odd look entered her eyes and I saw a somewhat unhinged smile cross her face before she coughed and spoke, the strange look gone.

"Be that as it may, I have my projects that I will complete myself. I'll show you it when the time is right."

"Ugh, fine. Since we've got everything worked out now I'll leave and visit tomorrow. Has the campaign progressed?"

"Oh, yes. We're nearly at the Northerner's citadel. Things will begin getting much more interesting soon."

[|||| =-= ||||]

"You're back!" Harry exclaimed as I approached him in the Gryffindor common room, Helen having brought me after I apologized profusely and she calmed down. He was sitting with his two friends, Hermione and Ron, but the book Hermione was reading and the game of chess Harry and Ron were involved in was quickly dropped in favor of me.

"Yes, I'm back, and I really need to get you back to learning new things. How's wandless magic been going?"

"WHAT?!" Hermione exclaimed loudly, turning to face her friend to look wide-eyed at him.

"Mate, you've been learning wandless magic?" Ron asked in awe of his friend.

"Oh, you've been… my bad." I winced as Harry's smile at seeing me turned into a grimace.

"We can talk later," Harry said in a pained voice.

"Remember that kids are dumb and get jealous easily," I reminded him.

"Rude… and wrong."

"Hey!"

"Adults are people who can control their feelings and put themselves in other people's shoes. There's a lot of children in adult bodies, as you likely know already," I said to Harry's friends. Before giving them a chance to speak I began my lies.

"Anyways, I might actually have to cut our nightly sessions. I have another friend, a lady friend, much prettier than your mug I might add, who wants to pick up some tricks. Most of the past nine days have been me dealing with some situations in northern Greece which are going to take some time from my schedule."

"Trouble? In Greece?" he asked.

"Old families are causing trouble, trying to summon Zeus and getting a being made from lightning and causing a small massacre, friction between this tribe of satyrs and that collection of naiads over some lake, and a lot more little things. It's not big enough to get reported on, not that Britain is anything other than completely isolationist. Point is, trouble's brewing down there and I got the unlucky draw. I apparently have more time on my hands than I should."

"But you're managing the largest tournament in Britain!" Hermione said in shock.

"Britain's a very tiny corner of a very large world. There's not many people as powerful or skilled as me and that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Saving Harry's life is mostly done at this point barring outside intervention, which I'm able to ward off myself anyways. Putting in much more effort would be wasteful, apparently, and an oracle with some repute in my organization did a search and said you'll probably be fine if I left you now."

"Oracle? Organization? I thought you were an unspeakable, and aren't all oracles like Miss Trelawney?" Harry asked, confused.

"Firstly, I never said I was an unspeakable. I just heavily implied it. The organization I work for is more like an international black-ops team. Almost the entire magical world lets Britain do its own thing most of the time because you all tend to handle yourselves, until recently, and get angry when other countries meddle in your affairs. Secondly, oracles do exist, but it's a bloodbound gift. You either have it or you don't and it's not really something you can activate at will for most."

"I… see?" Harry said, clearly not getting it.

"Lovely, then my job's done for now. Have fun getting chewed out by your friends for keeping secrets. I'm off to get chewed out by my girlfriend for disappearing for a week. Believe me, neither of us are eager to end this conversation." But nevertheless I stepped back into the wall of Hogwarts, an entrance opening up behind me.

"This means goodbye for now to you too, Helen," I muttered as I heard Harry's friends start to try to talk over each other in an effort to make their opinions heard.

"_Goodbye…" _Helen whispered to me directly. I smiled and sent a pulse of wistfulness as I shifted dimensions.

[|||| =-= ||||]

It was easy. I let my void affinity lash out to devour the numerous spells and bodies thrown at me. Spells were dissolved to nothing while bodies went limp mid-air, where they were slowed accordingly by my motion affinity. Meanwhile my storm, heat, and light affinities all worked tirelessly to destroy the enemies as quickly as possible. All of this was controlled by my parallel minds, though the line between parallel and myself had blurred a little with my recent power-up.

"DIE, MONSTER!" another useless devil screamed in the air, letting loose all the mana in her soul in a fiery inferno meant to kill me. I had taken more powerful attacks just a minute ago from far older devils. Void sprang for the inferno, constricting around it and squeezing it into nothing within half a second.

"Die, fool," I said with a little dramatic flair as I swept my hand at the devil. Not that I needed to move. I just liked to do so. The devil mustered up a scrap of power and threw herself away from me. An arrow of light and purity affinity sprouted from her neck and she gurgled, falling down from above. A blast of lightning with it's own purity component blasted her head to a grisly mess before she hit the ground. I was being neat, after all. I didn't want any unnecessary survivors.

This scene had repeated itself a total of sixty two times in the past five minutes, ever since I had entered the mansion belonging to one Creuserey Asmodeus, reportedly a stuck-up asshole and utter racist according to Kuroka. She gladly forked over his address and I used my mind affinity to copy a memory of the manor from her mind, letting me teleport to the manor easily. The defenses were nothing in the face of void, all being magical, and the attendants of the manor were all weak.

Eventually, after carving a bloody trail through the manor I arrived at the study of Asmodeus. I sensed his power just beyond the door, ready for battle. So I did the right thing.

I knocked politely and waited for him to answer.

I was answered by a pause and a blast of lightning destroying the door, piercing through the wood in an attempt to kill me. My lightning and void affinities suffused my aura and the blast harmlessly passed over me, although the infernal aspect of the spell stung a little. Fun fact! Suffusing your aura with an affinity gives extreme resistance to related spells of its nature! Not that the tactic was very useful to me. Not many people who knew me were dumb enough to attack me with magic.

"Rude," I commented upon seeing Asmodeus shaking with rage behind the hole in the wall he made.

"Rude?!" he hissed with the fury of a man who just had his life's work destroyed and ancestral home invaded. "Rude is an understatement for the sheer BELLIGERENCE you have shown to dare defying-" I got tired of his monologue and sent a blast of lightning at him, making sure to make the flash extra bright for his eyes. Asmodeus' hands flew to his chest as he held a magical circle to keep my lightning from hurting him. Even so, his hands sizzled and blackened under my power. I hadn't even used purity in that attack.

"Yes. You're rude. You won't even let me monologue." He chuckled in the darkest, most unamused tone I had ever heard.

"Rude… You… utter FUCKER!" he screamed. "I AM THE RIGHTFUL SATAN ASMODEUS! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE FUCKING WITH?!" 

"The first step in showing people not to fuck with me," I answered calmly. Motion affinity flowed out of me, wrapping around Asmodeus and acting with my intent. He tried to struggle but found his bonds held strong, though they used more mana from me than I'd have liked. Then, he tried to shoot magic at me. Void removed the problem as I stepped towards him. My sword appeared in my hand and, as Asmodeus began screaming at me once more, nearly incoherent with rage, I neatly severed his head from his body, lopping off an arm in the process for good measure.

Two more manors and a castle fell that day, each ancestral homes layered in wards, barriers, and defenses, all of which were ancient and powerful enough that they would give satans pause. Void broke through them all and I killed over six hundred devils that day, sparing only the children and those unwilling to be in the houses. Creuserey Asmodeus, Shalba Beelzebub, and Katerea Leviathan all died under my magic and were beheaded by my sword.

That day I killed three devils that led a faction feared by the whole underworld and crippled the manpower of the Old Satan faction, leaving only Rizevim Livan Lucifer alive to lead the faction. They hadn't publicly done anything against me. I just needed a sacrificial lamb to act as a demonstration that I could kill without any real consequence. The only allies of the Old Satan faction were the Khaos Brigade and with my closeness to Ophis they wouldn't dare so much as peep about me taking down one of their largest allies.

A whole faction that had been present for some centuries and a thorn in the side of the Satans, among their ranks one of the strongest beings in the world, and I killed them all seemingly easily.

It was one way to make a statement.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Gah! I missed a day! My bad, guys. This was meant to be uploaded yesterday. Next chapter will be the 25th unless I miss the schedule again. Keep in mind that this schedule thing I have going is only happening until I run out of pre-written chapters, which is going to take a month or two. **

**Sorry to disappoint with missing the details of the skills last chapter. It takes hours, literally hours, to format all the skills like normal. I looked at the ten-ish skills gained and just thought 'yeah, I'm not doing that'. I might do it later but that chapter's most likely staying as is. **

**Lastly, remember when I said that I was cutting the little italic conversations in-between scenes for interludes? Well here ya go. It's even from RWBY! Mostly from there, I mean. These pop up every once and awhile. The next one's at chapter 11 and I've got half of the third interlude written. So, anyways, have a great day and enjoy!**

[|||| =**LEVEL 6**= ||||]

[|| =**!BONUS LEVEL!**= ||]

**True love… this is not it**

"AND STRANGLE YOU WITH YOUR DESSICATED INTEST-"

"GOOD JULIANOS JUST TAKE IT!" the priest cried out. His hands stopped clutching the elder scroll and shoved it against Irisai's chest. She smiled, not that the moth priest could see it, and removed her right hand from his neck as she gently plucked it from his shaking grasp.

"Thank you!" she sang sweetly. The moth priest continued hacking and choking, breathing heavily as he massaged the bruises on his neck where the insane dragonborn had been strangling him just moments before.

"F-fine. Just… just go you mad… elfling," he gasped before hacking again and falling from his knees to the floor.

"Do I just open it? No, it was at the summit… but that was to reverse time. I need to cross Oblivion… Ugh. I need help. And maybe another scroll? Nah, one is probably fine. I just need to cross planes with it."

"You can't - *Cough* - cross planes with an elder scroll you daft lass!" the moth priest complained.

"Nah. However… I know some people who can send me across with it."

"Absurd!"

"Who do you think likes me more? Sheogorath or Sanguine? Or maybe Hermaeus Mora would be more eager to get the scroll? He's also more readily available. Heck, I've got three black books just laying around breezehome. I think I used one to fix an unstable dresser a few months ago."

"Sheogorath," the moth priest coughed.

"I'll try Hermaeus first. He's probably got the knowledge to cross planes of Oblivion too," Irisai decided.

"Definitely Sheogorath," the moth priest muttered. "Prince of madness? Well here's the sodding princess."

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Ugh. tentacles. Blegh." Iris scowled as she arrived in a flurry of black tentacles. All around her were bookshelves filled with tomes of forbidden knowledge and some steep drops without guardrails where there weren't bookshelves leading to an inky black sea. She had tried to read one once. It was filled with gibberish about aetherius and the origins of magic. She preferred shouting and stabbing things, as a proper dragon should.

"HERMAEUS! I've got an elder scroll to trade!" she called out into the air. Nothing happened for a moment. Then reality seemed to tear, a black portal to nothingness beyond it. Thick black leathery tentacles grasped out of it, swaying in the air, some frantically, as though looking for necks to grasp and others languidly, as though caught in a breeze. In the middle of all of them sat a large alien eye with two conjoined pupils.

"Mortal," he spoke in a deep, reverberating voice. "An elder scroll, you say?"

"Yup!" She held the scroll and it's casing up for Hermaeus to see. He eyed it with apparent interest, though with his inhuman appearance it was hard to tell.

"What do you desire?" From the disdain in the daedra's voice he clearly wanted nothing to do with the dragonborn. That he was willing to bargain for it was clue enough that he wanted the scroll.

"I want my hubby back! My destined!" Hermaeus was silent and his tentacles slowed their wiggling. Irisai frowned. "What? What am I missing?"

"That… outsider is not of oblivion," the daedra spoke. Iris was silent as the cogs in his brain worked to a conclusion.

"Whatever." The cogs were missing a few of their kind. "Just bring me to his realm. I'll give you the elder scroll in exchange."

"…" The daedra was silent, seemingly thinking about something.

"Fine," Iris said. She swung her magical travel pack filled with three hundred pounds of junk around and reached inside to slowly pull out another long golden tube. "I'll give you TWO elder scrolls - TWO! - for one eensy teensy favor… and maybe you could tell me what's got you in such a fuss over my hubby?"

"Your… destined is… more akin to a daedra than a man. He did not serve the divines as he claimed."

"So? He seemed pretty awesome to me." Hermaeus let out an audible groan and, unbeknownst to Irisai, wondered if killing the dragonborn would be worth the anger of Sheogorath, Akatosh, and whoever the dragonborn had mingled with in her journey to create absolute chaos on Nirn. He regretfully decided against killing her… for now.

"I will transport you to him in exchange for the scrolls," he gave up. He knew the ritual to send Irisai to her supposed destined. Strong emotions held great power and from the soul of a dragon they were made only the more potent. With how powerful Irisai was, she would have no issues crossing the realms to cause havoc for the poor realm-destroying abomination she was so attached to.

"Sweet!" Irisai chirped in a voice like a bird's song as she dropped the scrolls. It would have caused Hermaeus a minor headache if her were capable of such. A whirl of tentacles appeared from another portal and placed rocks in a short walkway for Irisai, a circular structure at the end of it. More tentacles with styluses appeared and carved an intricate lopsided design into the structure. Rare materials were scattered throughout the circle, three black soul gems, an orb of pure obsidian, and a crystal shaped like a heart were the most recognizable reagents.

"Walk inside and think of your… beloved." Irisai hummed, nodded, and walked casually down the walkway into the middle of the circle. Hermaeus paused and began chanting in a guttural tongue. The reagents shook a little and power flowed into the circle. Irisai glowed briefly.

"Wait, just like tha-" And the dragonborn disappeared from Nirn forevermore.

"Sweet, sweet silence," murmured the daedra, tentacles curling around the scrolls and disappearing to places unknown. The silence in Tamriel was cherished by many, yet to one mad daedra it brought only sorrow as he wept for the disappearance of his pranking buddy.

Far away beyond the known reaches of Oblivion, a woman dressed in armour made of thick bone and scales dropped to the ground, face-planting into asphalt. She groaned and looked upwards to see a desert in every direction, the only indication of life being the road she was conveniently dropped on. Despite being lost in a foreign land, however, the dragonborn grinned, eyes shining with happiness. She was one step closer to her hubby. As she prepared to set down the road, a clairvoyance spell glowed in her hand, ready to show her where her hubby was.

It would take a little more time, she had a whole world to cover after all, but she would find him. Eventually. And then she could finally get her prince in the messed up fairy tale that was her life.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**To lose a world**

"He's gone," Ruby said, tasting the words on her tongue almost, as though saying it would make her believe it. "Abyss is… gone." No, it didn't work. She still felt like he'd pop up in the team's room and apologize, make some perfectly reasonable explanation, and go on to cook dinner and sit quietly and patiently while others asked him questions about where he had been.

Their first clue had been Pit, his unimaginatively named 'familiar'. Waking up to see a massive magical bear-snake creature on Abyss' bed had been almost normal. She had met Pit once briefly. She only seemed interested in sleeping and watching whatever Abyss did, so she just shrugged it off like she did to a lot of the stuff her brother did. She spoke a little with her through aura, something she was still sloppy at compared to Jaune or her brother, and found that the kataigida was as confused as she was about Abyss' sudden disappearance. She said she felt a _wavepushshiftforce_, where she communicated the alien feeling through aura, and suddenly she was asleep on Abyss' bed.

A week passed where Abyss was absent. After two days even Jaune was a little worried. After five days everyone from Atlas to Vacuo knew Abyss Mavros was missing and nobody knew where he was. After two weeks, huge search parties formed by the White Fang and Nature's Bounty, and in some cases even the SDC fanned out to look for him. Bounties for information were placed, speeches were made declaring a national emergency, and rallies were held as conspiracies cropped up. She even had to make a speech about her brother. Her! She, Ruby Rose, made a speech! In front of people! And she only stuttered twice!

But it wasn't yielding anything. Besides a few false alarms nothing was being found, though the search continued. Everyone on the 'in' agreed that he had travelled worlds and something had happened. What it was, exactly, nobody knew, but they knew that the balance of power in Remnant had shifted tremendously with Abyss missing. With him gone it was back to Ozpin and Salem making eyes at each other, neither knowing when Abyss would return, if ever.

But she knew. Ruby was just about certain that her brother was gone. Just like mom. He went off on his own and died doing something heroic. Without him it was just her and auntie and Yang trying her best to just be there, her team left behind as she tried to comfort her, treating her like glass almost and trying to be strong.

She sniffled. "Abyss is… go-" She choked, unable to say it again. Tears formed and fell but she refused to sob, instead slowly breathing raggedly as tears fell _again_ down her face. And of course that was the moment a portal opened up behind her. She whirled around with wide eyes, wondering if her brother was back but just like she knew somewhere in her heart, it was her auntie, her bone mask on again. It had been so long since she had worn that mask that Ruby had forgotten about it, but she thought it meant something.

"Ru-" She cut her auntie off with a hug and another ragged sob, crying tears into her chest. Raven immediately brought her right arm around her, pressing her face into her chest. Her left rested on her sword as usual. Ruby breathed slowly, trying to control the tears. A few sniffles later she pulled herself away, her auntie's trailing hand showed some disappointment. She knew she was hurting inside too. Abyss was family to her too, but she was much better at pretending to be strong than Ruby.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**Ashes**

"Here." Ozpin handed the manilla folder to her. Pyrrha blinked in surprise at the act not because it was unexpected but because he was handing _her_ the folder when Jaune, the de-facto leader in Abyss' absence, was just to her left. Ruby, looking tired and worried still, was staring at the floor on her right.

"What's… mountain glen? I've heard of that." She read over the mission summary and muttered.

"Professor Oobleck asked specifically for your team. It's too dangerous for most first-year students but you are hardly typical for first-years." Ozpin said, looking haggard himself. Hie eyes were sunken and he leaned on his cane for support. The work to organize the search efforts was taking a toll on him.

"I… suppose we can take this," Pyrrha said cautiously. "Why not a normal mission?"

"It would be futile," He waved the concern away. "You three are more worldly than most students that graduate, with the possible exception of you, miss Rose." Ruby blinked and looked up for a moment at her name being mentioned only to look back down a moment later, seeing that she wasn't being addressed.

"If Mister Mavros were here," he continued. "I had a mission in northern Vacuo to hunt a new powerful species of grimm. However, without his ability to create portals the mission will return to the hands of professional huntsmen." Pyrrha nodded and glanced at the mission summary again.

"We'll take it."

[|||| =-= ||||]

Bullets pinged against her shield, directed there by her semblance to protect her legs. She easily held it tall against her enemies. A quick series of cracks rang out and the bullets stopped as the white fang were dispatched by Ruby's rifle. That was her cue. She lowered her shield and charged.

The poor grunts never stood a chance as she knocked the weapons from their hands and broke their limbs.

"Done." Jaune called from her right. She allowed her weapons to break down and fuse into her jacket again, the enemies apparently dealt with.

"We need to get to the front!" She called urgently.

"Ruby, dash to the head of the train!" Ruby nodded at Jaune's order and disappeared to a storm of rose petals that flew over the train. "Come on, we'll catch up!" Jaune said to her. It was meaningless since they were both already running but nice anyways. She swallowed her fear at how wrong her first mission had gone and her disappointment that she had lost the one person she really wanted to share it with.

Such thoughts were pushed away as Jaune kicked in the door to a train car violently, surging through to find no grunts. The other end of the car was knocked open and Pyrrha ran to follow when she flinched at an explosion behind her. ANd then another. And another.

"They're blowing up the train cars!" Jaune yelled. Her eyes widened as the words registered and she hastened towards the front.

More grunts were beaten down and she felt flashes of regret that they were on a suicide mission in the first place. The train would crash or not but either way they would lose their lives. It took a certain amount of guts to do such a thing. She still didn't know if she had that in her. It made her respect the men she beat either way. Jaune apparently did not have such deep thoughts as he threw the White Fang members aside without much delicacy.

They were just a few cars away. Just two. Just one. Then problems started. A woman appeared, jumping to the top of the train where they were runnign, dual blades bared against them. Her face was masked and a cloak over her.

"Are you in charge?" Jaune asked quickly. The figure was silent and he sighed before rushing forwards. His sword clashed with her as his shield was raised to defend himself. But to both their surprise her own sword glowed white and she slashed with her offhand mightily. A great gust of wind threw Jaune off and nearly off the train out of the sheer surprise at _magic_ being used.

"A maiden?!" Pyrrha yelped. The figure rushed her and she wondered where Ruby was. Was she hurt? Captured? Dead?! Then she stopped thinking as her spear and shield were unleashed once more in battle.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Fire!" A strong voice commanded. Pyrrha blinked the dust out of her eyes and tried to get up. Her hand slipped once and she caught herself, getting up properly the second time. She saw grimm charging a line of… security guards? Then the emblem on their shoulder registered with her. A tree with dust crystals in the branches. Nature's Bounty? What were they doing here?! She attempted to stand but was pushed down.

"The train crashed. Please, we're not sure if you're-"

"I'm fine." She interrupted tersely. She pushed the hand off her and looked around. Jaune was standing already, looking with a mixed expression of joy and anger at the line of security guards.

"They were ready," He said without looking at her. "The train crashed but apparently there was a… company break. I'm not sure on the details. Now they're just… killing grimm. I was told to stay out of the way."

"How long has it been?" She asked.

"Two minutes since the crash." She looked again at the organized soldiers and the woman leading them, a long red blade in her hand. She looked like a huntress, almost. Her uniform was black with red plates of armour lightly over vital organs. Her face looked vaguely familiar somehow. Ruby was beside her somehow, her weapon aimed at the breach.

As she looked at the waves of grimm, effortlessly gunned down by the officers and a few gathered huntsmen and huntresses, she wondered what she was worth. The cloaked woman, somehow a wielder of magic, had stood toe to toe with her and Jaune, keeping them occupied, wide blasts of magic evening the playing field on their small train car. She hadn't stood against her, hadn't stopped the car. It made her wonder. She was so far above other huntresses or huntsmen but when it came to the people like Abyss, people who belonged in the shadowy battlefield of magic and power, where did she belong, and wat could she do?

Because seeing the grimm fall under a hail of bullet fire she knew that she didn't have a place among those firing. She felt like she belonged somewhere else. She just didn't know where.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**A larger, darker picture**

Salem swished the wine in her ancient goblet around, sipping in a way that absolutely radiated displeasure. The reason? Mavros. Abyss Mavros, that is. He had been so interesting. A wizard? In their day and age? It had to do with the strange split in dimensions some time ago, something that caused so many subtle changes in Remnant, but out of all the changes, some annoying, some beneficial, and some plainly bizarre, he was the most impactful, and far from in a bad way.

He was a natural. He learned magic like a fish swims and had a mind more open than any she'd seen in recent history. Normally she had to cultivate such openness such as in dear Cinder, who was horribly annoyed when her blossoming future disappeared from the board entirely.

But what Salem really cared about was the conversation. She had no equal in Remnant. Mavros changed that, if only a little. He was not her equal but he had the potential to be one day. And he was in the end, taking up the mantle of the void Archwizard, an old memory from her time she had quite honestly forgotten.

And then he _left_.

The now empty goblet shattered in her grasp. She looked down in annoyance at the shards in her hand, tilting her hand to watch the crystals fall to the floor, breaking into smaller pieces. A growl and a wave of her hand threw the shards violently into the wall away from her, a grimm scurrying to clean it.

She stalked down the hallways of her castle, striding fast enough that her dark cloak fluttered behind her looking for all the world like a flickering shadow. She met Watts in the corridor, but upon seeing her mood he stepped aside and held his breath. She ignored him, to his poorly concealed relief, and continued to her oldest library, the one filled with tomes older than her in a few cases, some too delicate to be even opened for all their age.

She had such high hopes. She briefly fancied ruling the world together with Mavros. He was handsome, no doubt, powerful, surprisingly mature, truly a wonderful person to rule the world with. But it would be awkward to rule the world with somebody not your family. Perhaps marriage would fix that if she were not old beyond reason and utterly uninterested in true romance of any sort.

And yet she had awakened an old desire. A desire for companionship. She had contented herself with her peons and pets for so long that she had forgotten what it was like to talk without regard for manipulations and subtle ploys, simply a reasonable discussion between equals. It was addictive, having somebody to talk to without expectation, and she would not stand for losing one of the few mortals capable of decent conversation (or perhaps he had obtained immortality when she wasn't looking. She would ask him next she saw him. If he hadn't worked through immortality she would be happy to provide it for a fair price).

Priceless tomes and ancient grimoires stuffed with power were carelessly thrown aside. Mavros would cry if he saw books filled with the magical arcana he happily studied independently so misused, but to Salem they were worthless if they didn't provide her with her goal, that goal being a way of crossing dimensions to pull Mavros back. If she could revive the dead, which was rather simple, if expensive in practice, she could certainly follow in his footsteps, dimensional anchors be damned.

Three hours later she was hardly closer to a solution.

A day later she had a clue.

Another day and the clue was found to lead nowhere.

Finally, after four days of studying and dozens of scorched tomes, Salem delighted in finding a ritual which might bring Mavros back, or at least provide a method by which she could contact him.

First she must astrally project herself beyond her plane, which was easier said than done. Magic and aura decayed rapidly within the void between worlds. A short test showed how her first attempt failing rapidly, though she lost nothing in the process.

"Mila-"

"Watts," she growled. "I am busy. Be very quick."

"Of course," he conceded. "Abyss Mavros has had search parties dispatched after him by the SDC, Nature's Bounty, and the White Fang. He is not on Remnant."

"Do you believe that I did not realize that?" she hissed, spinning to face him. His eyes widened in fear and surprise before he bowed his head.

"My apologies, Milady. I will leave you to your work, then," he said a little quickly before almost jogging out of the library. Salem's eyes narrowed and she waved her hand, a mirror appearing before her. She inspected her face and a frustrated sigh left her. Her eyes glowed with black power. She must be getting lax, to let her magic escape her so. Or it may be her temper. The accidental magics accompanying her lashing out were sign enough that she was less austere than usual as of late. It was stress, of course, but that simply made her venture to retrieve Mavros more important.

It took nearly a month before she had her first success. She had to gather residual mana and aura from Mavros by harvesting several of the grimm he had crafted with her as practice, but with samples of his aura she located the dimension he resided in at the time, remarkably the same as the one she had sent him to previously. Not that that mattered. She had no way of reaching the dimension before acquiring his location.

Next was a matter of contacting him. She reached through to the dimension, touching the familiar feeling of void upon his soul-

A massive presence cast its gaze upon her. A dragon. A god. A… little girl?

"_You have reached out through the gap. What do you want?" _an irritable voice spoke to her. Salem was shocked for only a moment at attracting the attention of a deity - something she hated so dearly after the curse of the god of light.

"_I am searching for Abyss Mavros. He is wanted."_

"_He is," _the being agreed. _"I too desire him. He is mine. You cannot have him." _

"_I do not desire to take him, merely to speak with him," _Salem quickly said. She cursed herself for further disrespecting a deity but continued on, feeling annoyance in her chest at the task Mavros had brought upon her, even if by accident. Nevertheless, the voice was silent.

The silence lasted just long enough to make her fearful before the deity spoke once more. _"He gives me silence. He is not allowed to leave. I will not tolerate loneliness… are you family?" _

The way the deity spoke was jarring, having such ineloquence. The gods of light and darkness were far more verbose and grand as they deceived mortals for their amusement and some great plan. But this one was direct enough that some deeper meaning was difficult to fathom. It made her uneasy.

"_I am a friend to Mavros. I do not wish for his… silence. I do not wish to steal him away."_

The deity seemed to grunt in a way reminiscent of a pouting child even through their link of souls - was this truly a deity? - and spoke one final time.

"_I will tell him of you… when I deign to do so. Do not reach for him again. He still grieves and is moving on. I will not have my apostle harbour false hope." _The connection cut off and Salem stood silent in her library, a ritual circle designed to breach dimensions below her. She was silent for a minute before growling at the machinations of gods. Do they ever cease toying with lives? Perhaps she would never be free.

Whatever the case only the grueling, arduous option was available to her. She must wait for the whimsey of the gods, one of the least reliable forces in her world or any other. Great…


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Stiiiill in writer's block. I got a few thousand words, though! Progress… just not much of it. I really need to just find a few hours to sit down and stare at my computer until something comes of it. I could even do it tonight! … Or I could procrastinate - yeah you know what let's do that. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 7**= ||||]

The north bled. I felt a little bad as I gazed down at the destruction below, Esdeath's professional soldiers rampaging through the capital of the north, but I hadn't helped her much in conquering the city. She'd had a few small groups of soldiers, including one of her three beasts, pierce through enemy lines and sow chaos. Daidara I think the beast's name was? It didn't matter. The soldiers tore through the north's defenses like a boot through a child's sandcastle. Esdeath took out some of the best battlements herself with her teigu, but she didn't need to help much.

It angered me to see a group of laughing soldiers down far below dragging a woman out of a house kicking and screaming. Judging by their pawing at her clothes it was clear what they were going to do to her. I sent a tendril of mind affinity all the way from the top of the castle where I oversaw the city to the woman's mind and dulled her sense of perception as well as weaving a small enchantment to make the effect last for a few days and weaken the memories so she could repress or forget them more easily. She'd be basically drugged so she didn't suffer what the soldiers were going to do to her. Hopefully she'd heal in time.

I repeated the spell over four thousand times before the conquest ended. Esdeath's army numbered about twenty thousand strong, though only twelve were at the capital, the rest sent out to begin assaulting the forts and remaining towns in the north. About four thousand would remain in the north after Esdeath left to maintain order and defend against danger beasts since the northerners army would be destroyed.

Thankfully rape would be outlawed after a few days, when order was restored. An army couldn't antagonize the locals it had conquered too much or they would rebel, no matter how hopeless a rebellion would be. I couldn't solve every problem and I wasn't about to try. I just hoped my presence at the conquest made everything slightly less terrible for the north. At least I didn't have to cast the spell for every man in the army. Some of them didn't care to rape, having wives of their own, and some just didn't care to do so.

It was as the flames over the city burned bright, though not for long with Esdeath around, that the prince retreated with his guard into the castle, ironically in the same throne room Esdeath had been in earlier. I teleported far above the prince and made a tiny ledge of clear ice for me to crouch on as I looked down on him trying to rally his troops into a decent fighting force. With a mirror made of hard light I could even see down the entrance hall to the castle gate.

"Arsan, can you bandage the injuries well enough to get everyone in fighting shape?" A man with golden hair and a white toolbelt shook his head as he bandaged the severed stump of an arm of one of the warriors. The prince sighed and looked towards the door of the castle, beyond which Esdeath was organizing her forces and probably delighting in that she had taken the city.

"Warriors of the north," the prince said ominously. There was a tone of command in his voice as he turned to address the warriors behind him, many of which were wounded and all of which were tired. "We have fallen. The northern clansmen will have our legends ended here." His words cast a darker mood on his speech.

"But do not despair," the Prince said firmly, standing as tall as he could despite a hollowness to his gaze. His ornate spear's butt thudded heavily against the tiled floor of the castle. "For while we will fall, we will not simply lie down and perish. We are warriors each. We stood up against a superior foe and lost, as so many have, but our history has been a long and honorable one. Our future will not be a footnote. It will be an imprint of honor and valor even in the face of defeat. In this single moment we shall burn the brightest of our lives against the dark army of the Empire, for we have little need of our brightness in the worlds beyond. Fight well, my friends, my kinsmen, my family, and rest knowing that you gave all you could."

I didn't think it was a very good speech, there was too much about death and defeat, but it seemed like a last-minute improvisation so I wasn't going to judge. Besides, it got the message across. The Prince's guard looked resolute, though in their shaking hands I could see that they feared death as much as any man. The Prince's hands, though, didn't shake.

It was a solemn few minutes with the guard standing in a half circle with the Prince in the middle looking stoically at the castle gate. When it finally boomed everyone flinched and I got some popcorn out from my soulspace. It might have disrespected the Prince and his men's final stand a little, not that it mattered to me. This was going to be interesting to watch.

The second boom was louder and accompanied by a sharp crack from the entrance. There was no flinching this time.

The final boom was the loudest as the beam holding the castle doors shut shattered and the doors flew open. Without missing a beat Esdeath walked almost regally down the hall, her sword sheathed and a triumphant smirk on her face. Her three beasts, General Liver, Daidara, and flute boy - sorry, Nyau - walked behind her, Liver taking front. I tended to ignore the three, though I briefly spoke to Liver once. He seemed grateful for me taking Esdeath's attentions, though I got the impression that he thought I was a bit crazy for doing so.

"Prince Seika," Esdeath said with a cruel smile.

"Demon," he said, still holding an air of pride.

"… You know, I actually want to break you, make you bow at my feet and praise me as a goddess." Esdeath's rapier rasped out of her sheath, echoing through the castle's walls. "But this time? I'm afraid you'll have to die with the dignity of a cornered rat rather than my pet. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"So foolish," the Prince said in disgust. "I am a northerner and the Prince of this nation. I will not bow." Esdeath raised an eyebrow and was silent, somehow conveying all of her doubt with that one small gesture.

"It is a shame that… hm." She looked upwards to me. "It is fine that I make my enemies kneel at my feet, isn't it?" I teleported beside her, making a silhouette of my figure from shadow before I arrived for the drama of the scene.

"I'm not trying to change who you are," I said from beside her, all eyes on me. "I simply said not to torture the innocent. While this Prince isn't a terrible person, as I'd prefer for your habits, I don't mind if you dominate your enemies after you defeat them so long as they knew the stakes as they fought you."

"Perfect," she purred. She turned her head once more towards the Prince. "I hope you're as enthusiastic as I am for you imminent defeat. Your country has been toppled, your women raped, and your children will grow hating their fathers for failing where they were needed most." The Prince's eyes nearly glowed with hatred.

"Demon," the Prince spoke with pure, honest hatred dripping from his words. With that one word his men tensed and raised their shields a little more in preparation for what was to come. "Die."

I teleported back to my perch and was promptly disappointed by the fight. Esdeath tore through the guardsmen, culling them with cruel and painful strikes at their backs, hands, and faces, incapacitating them but not killing them while the three beasts distracted Numa Seika, who held them at bay with the range of his spear, trying to resist flute boy's interference while holding off Liver's water attacks and Daidara's axe throws and strikes.

When Esdeath was done she turned to the Prince and lunged with her rapier. To the man's credit he spun and dodged her lunge and blocked the miniature hailstorm that pelted his face, leaving his stomach wide open. Esdeath's rapier cut his hamstrings without much resistance and the Prince released a choked scream as he fell to the ground, still clutching his spear. A weak thrust from him that Esdeath batted away signaled the end of the battle.

"Disappointing," I spoke softly from my perch.

"Disappointing indeed," I heard far below. Esdeath must have had better hearing than I thought if she heard me from down there. "Return soon, Abyss. We have much to talk about." I teleported to the roof to look over the ruined city once more before I left. I was confident about my actions not being bad, but I still felt regret that I couldn't help more.

I wondered if Ruby would approve of my decision to do nothing while the northerners were conquered. To me it was no different than standing by as Salem sicced her grimm upon humanity, but where Esdeath sicced her soldiers upon the armies of other countries. Maybe someday I'd know whether letting things be was the right solution, but for the moment I was still uncertain.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Nyaa, a buddy to do your work with?" Kuroka asked, her breasts barely covered by the sheets of her bed as she hugged my side. Not that it was anything I hadn't seen before.

"That's how I'm thinking of it. Esdeath doesn't need more power, but she could learn some new tricks and understand magic theory a lot better. Mostly, though, she's looking for strength so she can accomplish some sort of private goal related to retirement. Maybe she wants to kill the monster that got away from her in her youth or something," I said, keeping her close.

"Mmm… she sounds kinda…" She trailed off.

"Cruel? Sadistic? A horrible person in all capacity?" I suggested.

"Nah. Terrible stuff happens all the time. Her world sounds different from mine or yours, a lot more brutal for sure. Besides, it's no different from the stuff that happened during the great war. Or the human's world wars. The supernatural factions could have stepped in and ended the things but we didn't. Don't feel bad for standing by when almost everybody does the same." I smiled at that, feeling better already.

"Thanks."

"Just speaking the truth, nyaa. Besides, I'm a terrorist. I kill bad guys, yeah, but they're still people if you want to be morally righteous about it."

"I'm not feeling all that righteous. More vindicated."

"Huh… do you think you might like bad girls?" she asked, looking up at me with mischievous eyes.

"Huh?" I asked, confused at the sudden change of topic.

"Well there's Cinder, a terrorist-"

"Not touching that."

"Me, a terrorist-"

"In name only."

"Whatever you say, and Esdeath, a hyper-murdery general."

"What does Esdeath have to do with my romantic life?"

"The harem cometh," she teased me. "She might not be doing anything right now, but a strong, mysterious man comes along and all bets are off. You're like the only guy who can give her, a battle-junkie, what she wants, and you're a nice guy. Some girls like douchebags, but Esdeath doesn't sound like that kind of girl. Doms like her don't like douchebags."

"Every day I learn something new with you," I said dryly.

"Yup!" She smiled naughtily. "And I think you like her too!"

"She's fun to be around and surprisingly reasonable. She's also pretty intuitive with magic and competitive, as well as a good sport about it, making her fun to compete against," I said, thinking of reasons I liked her. "But other than that I don't see where you're getting that I like her. It seems like a good basis for a close friendship to me. I had something similar with Salem, though it's more like I'm in her place now, playing the powerful friend to use as a measuring stick and sharing magical lore with her. She is definitely considering me as a romantic partner, though. I'm not sure what her plans are regarding you."

"I don't know about the magic stuff or much about you and Salem, it goes a bit over my head, but how does she look to you? Describe her to me." Kuroka snuggled deeper against my chest, too close to talk, as I began to speak.

"Well she has beautiful hair, though it's too long for somebody who goes into melee combat like her. According to her she just freezes off the hands of anybody who tries to pull on it in combat, making it more of a trap than anything. Her skin is a snowy pale that looks oddly beautiful when splattered with blood. Don't ask me why, but she looks great in blood. Her eyes are a dark icy blue too, kind of like an iceberg. I've found it odd how she always displays her breasts, though. She likes to wear military uniforms, though she alters them to have a short skirt, apparently pants make her less flexible and it irritates her. She has this tattoo between them, er, her bust I mean, that she got from that treated ice demon blood I told you about. Oh, and I never got why, but she's always wearing her military uniform. I'm not sure whether she'll ever wear anything else, though I caught her in a silk blue nightgown once… come to think of it she pulls off stuff like that nightgown seriously well. I wonder…"

For a moment I wondered what kind of clothes Esdeath wore casually. Did she just have a T-shirt or a long sleeved shirt? It seemed average, but people could be shockingly average when left alone. Did she just wear a skirt all the time too? Esdeath was really feminine (ignoring the murder and sadism) with her long hair, skirts, and being yet another girl who fights in heels for whatever reason. I'd just gotten used to it on Remnant and couldn't muster up the effort to care anymore.

"So beautiful, ruthless, descriptive eyes, and you're wondering about how she'd look in different clothes," Kuroka said amusedly looking up at me again. "Are you looking for some sensei/student play?" I rolled my eyes.

"We've already done that."

"Ah, but think of two 'students', one with long blue hair and myself showing the newbie how it's done." I did, and it was a very enticing image.

"What a nice view… Until the newbie student takes out her whip and leather corset, educating her teacher on how good pain feels." Kuroka giggled, shaking the bed a little.

"Mmm, I'm up for some domming. I'm not much for pain, but domming done right can be REALLY fun. No offense, Abyss, but other than magic in bed, which is super fun by the way and more than enough to satisfy me, you're kinda vanilla" I pouted, my pride stinging a little, but it was soothed by reminding myself of the time we experimented with mind control. Dust that was a fantastic night. "Throw in some illusions of my sister covered in pudding or something to spice things up sometimes," she recommended.

"You have some weird tastes. Should I mimic her voice saying how tasty she is or something?"

"I'm more normal than most people in the supernatural world, sweetie. And yes, 'or something'. And I'm pretty interested in meeting this Esdeath girl soon. She sounds fun!" I shook my head and pulled the covers back up.

"Nope! Not done yet!" My movement was stopped as the covers were thrown off completely and Kuroka straddled me.

"Pudding now or…"

"Umm, do the thing with the ice and shadow magic again. That was fun last time and I'm in the mood for subbing with all this talk about Esdeath."

"Ah, fine… I don't want to play sub with her. She scares me sometimes. Just a little."

"I totally understand. Now break out those cold, shadowy chains. Ooh, should we roleplay?"

[|||| =-= ||||]

"No, you can't go to yet another world. You've got three. Give yourself a fourth and you'll start getting stressed," I told myself, trying to think of something to do as I looked at the little victory sign in my game of Civ 6 on the hardest difficulty, leaving me with nothing to do once more. Harry could pretty much train himself now, having found the motivation to improve himself and with his friends giving him space for some reason. I didn't want to pry.

Esdeath was handling boring occupational stuff, making new garrisons, sorting through idiocy, killing whoever tried to start the latest rebellion, and propping up one of her disposable generals, one of the ones more suited for administration than warfare, and requesting the personnel to run things in her absence and properly assimilate the conquered nation into the empire. There was a shocking amount of work to be done and I was keeping it all far away from me, knowing how paperwork was from some management with Nature's Bounty.

Kuroka was doing business as usual but we had gone on a few dates and doing more would just be clingy. I didn't want to be a clingy boyfriend, even if after about three months of dating and living together we were definitely going to get married. Kuroka just wanted to set me up with a harem first to leave the possibility open rather than sort through having a wife and a harem, which apparently made some issues in the harem structure. I just took her word for it.

Even Elsyria, despite being a crazy bitch who managed to sound rational about worshipping me when she had to, was out of work for me unless I wanted to become a more personal god to her followers. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, so I just handed out blessings as usual, which had become more common after my power surge made my cult more potent and thus more attractive. I even had some devils and a fallen angel in my cult now. Elsyria, after learning how people with more mana gave me more mana in turn, was gunning for more magically adept races than humans 'in my name'. So she was busy too.

So now my old enemy came to face me. My limited attention span…

No. No you do not open a new dimension. Think of things to do. ANYTHING else to do before you search for a new can of worms to open.

… I could finally take over the Khaos Brigade? Nope. Never going to lead that band of psychos. They're strong, but way more trouble than they're worth.

Meet up with Arthur? Nah. That's a gateway to the Khaos Brigade and I had said hello months ago. I was happy to be distant friends with him and a little more distant with the Khaos Brigade.

Did Ophis have anything for me to do? I had dumped like half a year of void affinity into an enchantment last month after my first wore off. She wasn't doing anything for awhile other than chilling in her quiet cave and occasionally venturing out to do whatever she wants, like manage the Khaos Brigade, which I repeat again, I wanted no part in.

Maybe meet the canon cast? Like the canon cast who probably had some complicated feelings about me for slaughtering their enemies and being super powerful? … Lets not. Issei can have his boobs. I wanted worlds to amuse me.

… Icouldtraveldimensions I WAS NOT GOING TO TRAVEL DIMENSIONS!

I growled and powered off my laptop, top of the line, before storing it in my soul space for later. I needed a quick distraction. Like… mini golf…

Yeeeaaaahhhh… I needed a disposable world. One that would be fun for like… three hours? Or perhaps a week. I had some time before Esdeath finished her stuff. The Yule ball was next week and Kuroka had already agreed to go, telling the Khaos Brigade that she had a day off then. I felt that the tournament should be over and done with by now and that Helen had roped me into something that took more effort than it was worth. At least she handled all the busywork, bless her. Then again, I gave her enough mana to destroy England in exchange so it might be a fair trade all in all.

Ah, but a disposable world. Right. I needed someplace mildly interesting. Interesting enough to hold my attention but not interesting enough that I'd devote a lot of time to it. Not Star Wars or something so vast. I wanted something smaller in scale. Like… hm.

I took out my scroll, which held all the data of my computer thanks to some alterations Polendina did for me as a favor once. I swept through stories I had downloaded, dismissing most of them but finding a few that might be interesting. Monster Hunter, Fallout, and one of the many, many zombie worlds were my first choices. Basically big worlds without a coherent plotline for me to stay on. They were just places to screw about.

Monster Hunter might be nice for getting a better 'animagus' form (imagine turning into an elder dragon) but I liked being a panther. It made it easy to nap in sunshine, which was nice as a human or a panther. Besides, there was just something nice about being a cat.

Fallout might be nice, but I was a little concerned about radiation. I could defend myself, of course, and I did so naturally, but I was just sort of… it seemed grungier than I'd like. It was like moonshine to me. It had a kick to it but wasn't something most people, myself included, wanted to have all that often. Not that I even drank often at all.

That left generic zombie worlds. I didn't bother for a specific one, preferring the randomness this time. I just chose one where you're not infected in one bite and strong alcohol or antibiotics could disinfect the wounds just in case. I also looked for one where time flowed oddly. It didn't move in the zombie world when I wasn't around. It had something to do with the presence of void facilitating linear time. I didn't try to understand the concept the void tried to transmit me. I just knew that time only passed when I was there. It was fine by me.

I looked at the world I found, nodded, and donned some casual attire including a small backpack that I put a few guns and knives in and a hoodie since I was going to start in New York. I hadn't been to America in a long time. Too long, really. I wanted to have a hotdog or cheeseburger and ride a motorcycle, really work my American roots from before Remnant.

My ears flattened on my head, convenient how I could do that now, and I appeared in an alley of New York. I stepped forwards into the streets and was swept away as I went sightseeing, knowing that the zombie apocalypse was like two hours away. Not my problem.

I just walked for a bit, enjoying how a few pretty girls looked at me in the streets and hearing the mixed sounds of buskers playing street music and the honking of busy traffic.

I visited Times Square, which was less impressive in person but nonetheless big, and a few memorials. I considered visiting Yellowstone, but I had been walking the streets for about two hours and was getting hungry. I also wanted to see what the news had to say about the apocalypse. Was the government covering it up at first or was it going to be public? It ought to be interesting either way.

I ended up at a rustic bar around the edges of downtown. A few people were minding their business drinking and some others were chatting, including four loud teenagers who were definitely too young to drink. I considered sitting alone, but went to the bar next to an attractive redheaded girl writing on her computer.

"Could I get a beer? That and a sandwich," I asked the bartender, a relaxed burly man in a loose black polo shirt with a small gut.

"Any beer?" he asked with a small New York accent, though disappointingly not the stereotypical one. "Oh, and I'll need an ID."

"I'm fine with anything. Really anything, so long as it's not British. I'm just looking to kill time. As for the sandwich, something hot with bacon." I reached into my jeans pocket and withdrew a fake wallet made of hard light and handed the man a hardlight ID with a bit of mind magic on it to seem genuine to whoever saw it.

"Sure, we've got bacon. I'll get you in a… Abyss?" The man raised an eyebrow at me.

"My parents never grew out of their goth phase, I think," I said with a smile and a shrug. The man looked amused and placed my ID on the bar as he took a few steps away to get my beer, making his gut jiggle a bit humorously.

"Abyss?" the girl next to me said curiously. I said nothing but slid my ID over to her. She picked it up and scoffed with a grin on her face. "Your parents must suck."

"There are worse ones. They cared, but I don't think they really thought my name through."

"Abyss is a really edgy name, yeah."

"What I mean is my last name," I said.

"Mavros? I think that one sounds pretty cool, actually."

"Uh huh? Well it also means black in Mis-Greek," I nearly said Mistralian but hid it with Greek. The girl let out a laugh at my misfortune just as the bartender set down some sort of lager and cracked it open with a grin at me. I grinned back.

"Good god… that's ridiculous." She chuckled, now facing me rather than her computer.

"So you know my name. Care to share so I can make fun of yours?" I asked with a charming smirk.

"It's Cindy Park," the redhead said, blushing faintly.

"Wow, your parents must have been terrible," I said.

"Really? Why?"

"Your name isn't nearly as cool as mine." She rolled her eyes.

The two of us talked a little more after that. Cindy, as it turned out, was a college student in mathematics, who was entirely used to people grimacing when she mentioned mathematics. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to do for a career, but she liked statistics and calculating the chance that something will happen and testing it. She was, in other words, the beautiful nerdy girl. If she had glasses she'd really fit the stereotype, but sadly she'd moved onto contacts in high school.

I made up a story about wandering the US doing odd jobs, though I mentioned that most of my jobs were related to mechanics, metalworking - including gunsmithing, parkour, and martial arts. I described myself as a very hands-on sort of person with the right inflection to make Cindy blush shyly again and eye my muscles. We talked about the benefits of college versus trade school and I began talking about the places I had seen.

"A jungle?" she asked curiously.

"Guatemala," I explained. "I speak a little spanish, enough to get by south of the border, and I wanted to know what it was like down there. So I settled down for a month with a friend near the border, got a job to buy some things I needed, left some spare stuff with him as thanks, and drove down. I kind of wanted to go all the way to Buenos Aires down in Argentina, but I didn't want to go through the poorer roads in South America. I also don't speak portugese. I saw some jungles, though, and I wasn't impressed. Giant bugs, it's way too humid, and there's too much mud, not to mention the rain. It sounds beautiful to stand bare chested in a bunch of rain but it's so much less fun to hold down a tent and pray that your motorcycle doesn't get water anywhere it shouldn't be."

I was taking reference from my summer road trip with Bella, including the time in the life affinity mana hotspot, where the insects were larger than men and everything sucked.

"You're not a save the rainforest kind of guy, then?" she asked

"Just saying, I'd love some parking lots down there. It'd be better for my back than the mud."

"I-uh…" I blinked and turned around, seeing nothing. Cindy pointed upwards, where a news TV was silently reporting. A lady in a blue suit was screaming as a feral looking man with prominent blackened veins on his face chowed down on her arm. I winced as I saw that the lady's forearm had shattered bones. Finally the zombie pushed the lady down and got it's jaws around the reporter's neck, the cameraman was just standing there filming it for some reason.

There were a silent few seconds as the bar went silent, more people seeing the news screen. The volume turned on and I heard the screams of people from the TV and a fumbling sound as the camera fell down and blood got on the lens. Louder screaming was heard and I got a flash of a teal shirt and brown vest, presumably the cameraman being eaten by a zombie.

"So… where is this happening again?" I asked, breaking the silence and causing everyone's eyes to turn to me. I could hear screams far away, now that I listened for it.

"… Virginia," one of the teenagers said, a black girl with ripped jeans and a sleeveless shirt.

"… Do you think they're in New-" I was interrupted by a clearly audible gunshot from outside. I sighed and stood up. I reached into my pocket, teleported twenty five dollars from the register the bartender used to my hand, and placed it on the table. "Well, whether that's fake or not it's my time to go. Seeya, Cin-" I was interrupted again by a scream and a crack on the glass of the bar, a fat lady with the same prominent black veins on her face slamming her hands on the glass looking inside.

Everyone was still silent. I took my backpack off and slipped a big knife out from it and up my sleeve where Cindy could see. She looked at me with wide eyes and I smiled weakly, having to fake it because I was actually kind of excited. I had never fought zombies before.

I walked to the bar door in silence and pulled it open, clearly hearing the screaming and sound of things breaking around the street. I peeked my head out at the fat zombie lady, who snarled and grunted while stumbling towards me. In my peripheral vision I saw zombies actually running, so this lady was just slow because she was fat. Zombies could indeed be fast.

I backed inside the bar and the fat zombie followed, snarling all the way. "So if you've got a mind in there…" I trailed off as the zombie let loose a screeching sound and swiped at me. I knocked her arms away and kicked out her kneecap, sending her toppling to the floor.

"Dude, it's a zombie! Just kill it!" one of the teenagers yelled at me.

"No mind? Even rabies victims have a little sense, though some sort of mass rabies is unlikely," I said as I crouched down to the zombie's head. She tried to leap towards me but I pushed her back and batted away her arms again. "Fine." I flicked my wrist to get the knife out, to the gasps of the people around me, and pointed it directly at the zombie's eye. She screamed and lunged towards me, burying the knife in her own frontal lobe. She groaned and twitched a little but fell limp as I pulled the knife out.

"So zombies," I said at a normal volume, loud enough so everyone heard me. I paused for a second. "Welp, I'm going to Canada. Oh, uh, one second." I stepped quickly towards my backpack and pulled out a pistol and a box of eighty bullets.

"Here you go, Cindy. You're smart. Go save your family or something." I offered the gun to her.

"M-my family are in Pennsylvania," she said in tears, panicking.

"Then go to Pennsylvania," I shrugged. "I'm going north. There's less people in Canada and I was going up there anyways. Maybe I can hunt moose or something. Surviving in the wild isn't new to me."

"Dude, can I come to Canada with you?" the black teenager from earlier spoke up, sounding excited.

"Have you got family here?" I asked.

"None I care about," she said a bit callously.

"You sure?"

"Dad's a drunk. Mom's a druggie." She shrugged.

"Come on, then. But no slackers. I've only got room for one other person on my motorcycle."

"I can hotwire something," she offered.

"Sweet. We can get something better than a motorcycle after we get out of the city. The streets are going to be stuffed soon." The black girl nodded and followed me when I made to move out the back.

"Good luck, you all!" I called back as I exited the bar from behind. "So my bike's at the corner five blocks that way and four that way," I said, pointing down the street and to my left.

"Maple. Maple and… I think sixteenth," the girl said thoughtfully. "Also, can I get a gun?"

"Have a knife. I don't know how well the zombies can hear, but I'm guessing pretty well so I'll use knives too," I said, pulling my second out of my backpack and holding it out for her. She seemed disappointed but took it anyways and we started walking. A few screams later showed both of us that being silent was a bad idea.

"So why'd you give that white girl a gun?" the girl asked.

"She was honest, nice, had a family she wanted to get to, and I liked her. Oh, and she was a pretty redhead. There's always that," I said casually. My tone seemed to make the girl a little less tense. I could see her eyes darting this way and that, all senses on high alert.

"That was stupid. We could have used that gun."

"I've got a revolver in my bag too." She looked at me in disbelief.

"What? I like guns," I said defensively.

"What kind of person walks around with guns and knives in their backpack?"

"The kind that brings little girls into back alleys." I gestured to the alley we were in with a wave of my hand and the girl snorted.

"Yeah, right. Whatever."

"The motorcycle was an innuendo, you see."

"Riiight." The girl rolled her eyes. "My name's Claire by the way."

"Abyss."

"I heard."

The two of us exited the alley onto the main streets again. "Come on, let's run. Don't stop and keep your ears open. If they start chasing us duck into an alley and don't yell. Sound."

"Sure." Claire nodded along with me and we fell into silence again, this time because we were watching the carnage unfold around us. Most of the zombies were trying to get inside the buildings, pounding and screaming on doors. Claire got freaked out when some zombies got near us but after seeing how quickly I dispatched them she started getting closer to me and we ran a little faster. I was actually impressed when she noted how I was running, rolling my feet a bit to stay silent out of habit from Bella's classes, and she mimicked me. She didn't do it right, of course, but she tried it and I made sure to look a little impressed with her.

"Hey!" I heard somebody yell out. I looked back and saw a sweaty nerdy guy in an unbuttoned dress shirt, glasses falling down his nose. "I, uh… need a ride?"

"I've only got a motorcycle with room for two. Sorry," I apologized.

"M-maybe I can go with you, then?" he asked hopefully.

"No means no. Leave," Claire said flatly. The guy winced and looked back. Another of the endless screams of zombies rang out and he looked between us and the streets like a lost puppy.

"You can tag along until we hit my bike. Then we have to go and you're on your own," I told him. Claire gave me an annoyed look but the guy practically collapsed in tears before he ran towards us.

"Thank god there's still decent people in the world! I'm David!" He held out his hand.

"I'm Abyss. Yes, that's actually my name. I'm not your friend, man. I'm just moving along," I said, not shaking Daniel's hand but turning away and continuing to walk down the alleys to my 'bike'.

"Oh. Um… okay," Daniel said awkwardly. Claire and I walked and he trailed behind us.

A minute passed of screams. "So, uh… where you guys going?" Neither of us answered him. "Cool… right," he said, looking sullen. Suddenly a skinny zombie came around a corner in the alley with a friend. I held my knife back and threw, landing in it's head. The second screamed and lunged at me. I kneed it in the gut, tore the knife out, and stabbed into the side of it's head.

"… Whoah," Daniel said, stunned.

"We're pretty badass." Claire puffed up.

"You haven't done anything," I reminded her.

"Ooooh snap! Calling her out!" Daniel grinned at Claire, who glared at me again. I heard shuffling around the corner and gestured to it. My two tagalongs looked as a zombie in a suit came around the corner.

Claire sighed and stepped forwards, holding her knife at the ready. The zombie screamed and ran at her. She waited until it was close and stepped forwards, slamming into its gut. The zombie snarled and spat as it clawed at her, leaving gashes in her back. Claire gritted her teeth and stabbed the zombie's throat. The zombie gurgled and its clawing weakened. Finally, she managed to stab through its eyes to its brain.

"That," I told her, "was incredibly sloppy. Attacking the gut first does work for humans, though."

"Fuck you! It's my first time!" she yelled at me.

"Phrasing, Claire," I reminded her. The tension didn't lessen. "I'd recommend going for the major veins or anywhere near the face. I go for vitals or more well protected spots. I should try that when I fight again." I stepped forwards past Claire and listened to her pause and catch up with me after kicking her zombie's ribcage with a snarl.

The rest of the way was easy. Some zombies got in my way but I discovered that severing their spinal cord just takes out their lower body, or their whole body if you get it high enough, and the zombie acts all drunken and has a hard time using their body. It was weird since normally people just collapsed when a nerve was cut.

I used this to do sneak attacks from the nape of the neck, not that I got much opportunity. The fact that the zombies could seemingly reroute nerves, even major ones, was odd but, well, it still killed them.

When finally Claire and I arrived at a parking lot I reached into my soul space and pulled out a motorcycle I had stolen in DxD and put a bunch of runes on.

… What? Who wouldn't steal a bunch of nice stuff if they could without consequences? I had my airship from Remnant, sure, but I couldn't exactly use that in a zombie apocalypse or to go to the supermarket. My experience with maintaining the airship helped me a lot in maintaining and improving the motorcycle, though. I basically power-leveled the skill with my experience in airships.

"Aaaaand… here." I reached into my pocket, that means soul space, and took out my keys, pushing them into the beautiful motorcycle. I didn't pay too much attention to it when I got it.

"… Holy shit," Claire said in clear awe.

"Dude, that is a sweet bike," Daniel agreed with her.

My bike was a Harley, as all the best bikes are. It was a rugged-looking bike almost like what you would see a biker gang use except it had a distinct lack of skull stickers or a shotgun holster. It also wasn't a chopper with the long axles for the front wheels. I almost painted it a light grey but I decided on dark grey instead. It let me hide the runes a bit better, though I didn't hide a few runes, letting them show freely. They looked like artwork with how intricate they were and gave the bike have a bit of character.

"I'm pretty proud of her. She is a bit loud, though. That means we'll have to be speeding through the streets as fast as we can. It'll be terrible, I know. I hate driving as fast as I can."

"If you don't want to drive as fast as you can I'd be happy to do it for you," Claire offered.

"When hell freezes over," I replied, getting on my bike. I turned the keys and felt it hum under me. "Oh, and this is where we part ways, Daniel."

"Right… I'll, uh, just… fuck off, then," he said nervously, undoubtedly hearing all the snarls and screams heading towards us.

"You do that, Daniel," Claire said. I was getting the impression that Claire was a bitch.

"Say, Daniel? You should run." I pointed at a few zombies running towards us at breakneck speeds. Daniel took the hint and ran to the nearest building only to find that the door was locked. I took a little pity on the guy and unlocked the next one he ran to with my metal affinity. I felt a little better about myself when he nearly cried in relief at the unlocked door.

"That guy's gonna die," Claire said, getting behind me and wrapping her arms around my torso.

"… Yeah," I said, my prideful feeling at being a good guy gone in an instant. "You're not really a sunshine and kittens kind of girl, are you?"

"Yeah, could we go now? The zombies are coming." I sighed, getting a little tired of Claire already and revved the engine before kicking off. The zombies snarled a little at me as they continued coming at me. I slowly made my way between two cars and drove down an empty lane onto the main street, getting past the zombies. Then I gunned the motor and sped down the street, enjoying how I could go fast in a big city.

"WHOAH!" Claire yelled as we passed right behind a car that was speeding like we were.

"Holy shit! Maybe we shouldn't go so fast?" she yelled against the wind nervously. Her arms tightened around me. I suddenly understood why guys liked to pick up girls on motorcycles. Having them press up against you was kind of nice, though Claire was probably underage. Not that that really mattered in a zombie apocalypse, but still…

"Well, the zombies are a problem," I yelled back.

"Being a red stain is a problem!"

"Lesser evil, Claire. Besides, I'm a good driver. Trust me, I can get out of New York. I might have to be creative, though." Claire was silent but I felt like she didn't trust that voluntarily. "If you want to jump off, feel free to do so," I said.

"Zombies," she said simply.

"Lesser evil," I affirmed. She took one arm away from my body and punched me in the back.

"Ow," she muttered. I chuckled and continued speeding down the streets of New York, enjoying my decision to waste some time here. Zombie scenarios were pretty fun in the short term.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Late again. College applications are due and I… well, nevermind. It's really not hard to upload a chapter I've already written. I'm just easily distracted by the mountains of work that keep rising up but such is life. Sorry, guys. Then again, this chapter is a pretty good one in my opinion. There's lots of plot development. **

**Oh, and the zombie world is one of those original ones I mentioned around chapter 1s AN. The picture I had in my mind was kind of like World War Z. The movie, that is. Otherwise all the characters and such are original. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 8**= ||||]

Claire and I raided a camping store and hotwired a nice Mercedes on our way out of the outskirts of New York, where I made a small scene crying over my motorcycle, which I put in my soulspace as soon as it was out of Claire's sight. Then came looting.

Most of the good stuff at the store was gone, but there was some okay stuff to loot. I had a few knives and some good clothes, Claire had clothes, two axes, and a climbing pick, and between us we had two of everything we thought would be useful except campfire fuel and food, of which we had about three bags of dried campfire food.

I demanded we stop and got some decent ingredients at a few small stores. They would spoil, but I had enough preserved stuff to make good meals for me and her. Claire had her head in the clouds, probably coming to terms with the apocalypse and didn't argue with my looting. Surprisingly, the water was still running and I was able to collect some in bottles and a large plastic box I found.

I wasn't sure how widespread the zombie plague was but it had taken New York within hours. It was probably an engineered plague, too, since zombies were a big leap of evolution, so it might have been released in every major city.

"You know, humanity just got sent back to pastoralism," I said absently, looking up at the starry sky from my sleeping bag. I was a bit uncomfortable since we were in a tree at the moment. Claire didn't want to sleep on the ground where a zombie could get her.

"… Yeah," Claire said, her voice small.

"Well, actually that might be an exaggeration. Bodies rot quickly, especially in warm weather. It takes about nine months in all. Maybe longer if the bodies keep enough organ systems running. They've got a heartbeat, after all. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to move. They breathe, think at a primal level, eat… do zombies need to poop? … Ugh." Claire snorted but it was wet. She was crying, probably.

"So zombies might last longer than nine months, we'll have to see. They might produce a preserving enzyme, after all. But the body's a complicated thing. Viruses are sorta blunt. They hijack and reproduce. They're doing delicate stuff; definitely genetically engineered. I doubt that they could do this sort of thing as perfectly as us original humans. Hm, maybe we should go south instead where they've got farms and food? Nah. There's less people in Canada if you get to the right place. It might take longer, but not by much."

I fell silent when Claire didn't respond. Then I heard a small sniffle. "Do you need a hug or something?" I asked.

"No!" she protested, her voice thick.

"Uh huh," I said, unconvinced.

"Ugh!" she groaned. I heard her roll over. "I'm gonna go to sleep. Goodnight you weirdo."

"Oh I'm definitely weird," I agreed. "And why not be? It's a big world and it just got a whole lot bigger. Why wouldn't you do what makes you happy? For better or worse, people are going to be doing that. Be weird if you want to. It's better than being stressed out. It's the apocalypse. Don't be one of the people who cry and moan. Be the person who laughs and parties the night away before you die."

"It's not that easy," she said weakly.

"It's impossible," I said. "Who would be happy when everyone's dead? But you have a life to live. Smile and bear with it and it'll be genuine soon enough. Things like this take time. Time and therapy, but you'll have to content yourself with the first one. Luckily there's still the power of friendship to handle the second." Claire chuckled nasally.

"Well, that's enough from me. I'll let you sleep now. If you need a sleeping pill I grabbed a bottle from that pharmacy we looted. That and a LOT of strong antiseptics. It's over the counter stuff but it'll help. I figured you might appreciate it so it's in your pack. Goodnight." Claire waited a moment and shuffled around. A zipper opened and I heard the plastic bottle open and her dry swallow one.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I felt a little better as I left the dimension to play games in DxD until I felt sleepy enough to go to bed. Consequently, that was when Kuroka got back and we watched a movie together.

"So how was your day?" I asked her.

"Meh. Cao Cao was a jerk again. Something's got him in a bad mood," she said casually, her head on my lap as I scratched her ears lazily. "Vali was super happy, though. Something about his old man. I didn't ask since it made work easier. You?"

"I got bored and went to another dimension again. Esdeath's doing the boring part of managing armies, I don't want to be clingy, and Harry's pretty self-sufficient now. Not to mention how the residents of his universe get all their problems solved by Helen, bless the lady."

"Cool. What kind of universe?"

"Some sort of zombie apocalypse one. I'm not using magic or superhuman abilities, of course. Just skill and magic to do mundane things like fake my ID and not leave my motorcycle sitting in a parking lot. I walked around New York and left with a girl named Claire, who's kind of a bitch, with plans to go to Canada."

"Wouldn't the zombies rot slower up there?"

"Not by too much. I'm not sure if the zombies rot anyways. They move and stuff so it might just be a neurological disease in that universe. I'm having a fun time, though."

"Hmm… so is Claire another for the harem?"

"Nah. She's like fifteen or seventeen. Maybe eighteen or nineteen but I kind of doubt it. Highschool age."

"Do you think she'll care? It's the apocalypse for her. You're a hot guy and pretty nice. Not to mention that she'll rely on you." I frowned. That did sound like a recipe for disaster.

"I'll have to make things clear if she makes a move," I muttered.

"Just so you know, I'm not totally against sleeping with a younger girl if she's at least seventeen. I know I made my own decisions at seventeen and an apocalypse kinda wisens people up."

"Yeah…" I made sure to scratch the spot just to the left of her right ear and she purred a little bit.

"Oooh, nice," she said, her voice having a natural purr to it. I hummed and just listened to her purring for a minute. "You know, I could just fall asleep here," she said.

"Sure," I replied. I was comfortable enough as I was. Kuroka sighed and adjusted herself and I leaned back a little more and closed my eyes. Things were nice as they were. I might have some issues with finding things to do but the problem was easily solvable. It was nice, not having to worry about anything for once. All I had to do was eat, sleep, keep my obligations to Esdeath, Kuroka, and now Claire, and enjoy myself. After a moment of thought I couldn't recall a single moment I had to do anything I _really_ didn't want to since I left Remnant…

Coming to that line of thought brought to mind Ruby and Raven and my mood plummeted. Some memories drifted through my head. Christmas with Ruby, her putting a santa hat on her head and passing out alcohol to some poor bandits was the first to come to mind. Then it was watching her steadily grow with her scythe and all the time she spent making Rose Eclipse. I even missed Roman to a degree. The only person I didn't miss was Jaune. Screw Jaune. I messed up with him badly, but he really was a dick now.

Softly massaging Kuroka's ears a little more helped set my mind at ease again and I tried to clear my thoughts. I'd gotten pretty good at it with meditation and I felt sleep comfortably take me. I had been up for eight hours more than Kuroka with my foray into the zombie world, after all.

When she almost silently got up and took a shower I had the presence of mind to teleport to the zombie world and adjust myself in my sleeping bag. I missed Kuroka on my lap but I was tired and wanted more sleep. I could go back later and have some shower sex when I was more awake.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Good morning," I said, flipping the tiny frying pan over the portable campfire. Claire groaned quietly without really opening her mouth and blinked at me. "I'm making scrambled eggs. Get on up. That branch can't be comfortable." She nodded woozily and stood up.

"You're naked," I noted. Claire's eyes widened and she pulled herself into the sleeping bag.

"Don't look, pervert!" she yelled at me, finding a surprising amount of volume considering she just woke up.

"I've seen breasts before, Claire," I said reasonably. 

"Then why are you looking at me?!"

"It's polite to look at people when you're talking to them." She snarled fiercely and grabbed her backpack, still covering her breasts under the sleeping bag. I rolled my eyes and caught the stick of deodorant she threw at me. I tossed it back to her where she threw it at me harder. I caught it and tossed it aside.

"Close your eyes!" she ordered me.

"Claire, quit playing the blushing virgin and go put on some clothes. We can take showers later if we pass a lake or something. I'll check a map later. Now if you don't get dressed you're not getting breakfast." She was silent before she scoffed and rolled out of the tree. I looked down at the eggs I was making. Cooking scrambled eggs with a portable stove was a bit below me as a frankly fantastic chef, but I did consider that a truly fantastic chef could create a wonderful meal using poor ingredients in sub-par conditions. So I cooked.

Claire stormed back to the tiny camp and sat down in a huff. I offered her a little plastic bowl of eggs and she snatched it and a plastic spoon grumpily as she dug in.

"What'd you put with this?" she said around a mouthful of eggs.

"Chives, green peppers, and cheese," I answered, already done with my food and using a little water and a rag to clean everything. Ideally I would use unclean water so I didn't waste the potable water, but we only had potable water and if things got desperate we could just collect rainwater.

Claire was finished quickly with my eggs and I took the bowl from her for washing. "Wow, you really hated those eggs."

"They were terrible," she said without humor. I shrugged and we were silent.

"So… about last night," Claire said leadingly.

"Yeah?"

"Were you trying to say something with the whole 'free world' talk?" I shook my head at her.

"Did you think I meant that crime was fine?"

"Uhh…"

"Looting doesn't count. With everyone dead, somebody else is going to loot everything if we don't."

"Sure." She nodded with my logic. "I meant about, like, stealing and stuff." I looked up at her skeptically. She said nothing.

"Well," I said. "I'd rather avoid stealing unless I have to. I could, of course. I'm sort of a badass and I have a gun. But why would I betray my fellow man? There's a ton of loot right now that anybody can take. Nobody's going to be a dick for a few months at least. Maybe in a year when things get scarcer that stuff will get more common. Right now it's more likely that people will go for power plays like pressing people into their groups, hoarding guns, and making group structures. I personally wouldn't feel happy in a group bigger than six. At that point people need a clear leader and I would be in the running because I'm handsome, smart, and really competent. People would look up to me and I don't want that responsibility."

"How humble of you," she said dryly.

"Believe it or not I had to work pretty hard for my skills. Admittedly I was pretty good looking even before I started working out, but the skills and knowledge came through hard work," I pointed out.

"Some people have no shame." She shook her head in exasperation. I sighed and finished the dishes with a few swipes of my cloth. I didn't stack them neatly and just tossed them all in a plastic bag to use later tonight if we couldn't get a working stove or anything.

"Come on," I told her. "Do you want to learn how to drive?"

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Hey, Draco," I said, passing the kid in the stony walls of Hogwarts on my way to the Gryffindor dorms, where Harry was running late. The blond kid let loose a girlish screech and spun around with wide eyes. The few people around us looked at us in surprise.

"I-ah, Mister Granite!" he said with a stretched smile.

"Any reason you're as tense as a spring?" I asked casually, ignoring the people loitering around.

"Anyone would be when faced with a wizard of your power," he said. I thought that was a part of why he was afraid of me, but it didn't seem like the root of the problem.

"Sure, and the real reason?" I asked, seeing no need for subtlety. I flexed my power a bit, projecting towards Malfoy. His breath hitched and he gulped, looking pale.

"I-I… nothing!" he squeaked. I narrowed my eyes.

"Now, Draco, you wouldn't have anything to hide now, would you?" I rested my hand on his shoulder and smiled coldly. "Now I'm not accusing you of anything, but with how nervous you are it almost seems like you have something to hide, and doing so with a shameful lack of tact. So I want you to know this." I leaned down a little, looking straight into Draco's eyes unwaveringly. His were filled with fear.

"If you are having _any _problems at all that may endanger somebody I want to know. Be it dementors, dragons, Dumbledore… Death eaters." Draco barely held in a whimper and I smelled something unpleasant from beneath his robes. "If you or any student is having that sort of trouble I consider it my responsibility to drag it into the open and annihilate it. After all, how else will people feel safe?" I let my cold smile stretch a little farther.

Draco looked near tears. For a fourth year it was a little pathetic, but I _had_ just threatened his family and put it on his shoulders to ward off anything the death eaters tried, all while maintaining the thin facade of telling him I was available to help. I didn't want him to break down in tears so I lowered the intensity of the magic I was letting loose to let him calm down.

"Hm," I stood up and pushed him lightly away from me, getting a little distance where we were just two inches short of kissing before. "Goodbye, Draco, and good luck with your lessons. You did a wonderful job when I first came here. I'd hate to see such talent gone for some trivial violence." Draco nodded hauntedly and I wondered whether he was seeing some sort of threat in my final words where there actually wasn't one. I was just being cautious about Death Eater attacks and a repeat of the original timeline.

I walked away with a pleasant hum, feeling that if there was any Death Eater threat it was well and truly stomped out with my intimidation of Draco. The organization had no spies besides maybe Snape, whatever he was doing, and probably wouldn't risk trying to abduct Harry for some sort of ritual anymore.

Yes, life was easy in the HP-verse. In fact it was getting boring. Harry was a lot less interesting than I thought he'd be. I was hoping for some sort of unique magical ability or a person with personality quirks. Instead he was just a normal guy, albeit with a lot of untapped magical talent and some serious bravery, trying not to stand out too much and failing badly. I was working on making him less dull, though.

I arrived at the Gryffindor dorms and the door opened for me courtesy of Helen. Harry's friends Ron and Hermione were flicking their wands silently with frustrated looks on their faces on the couch while a few other Griffindors sat around the lounge. I could feel the magic in the two friends not moving with their wands.

"You're doing it wrong. Push magic into it," I told them. Hermione jumped at my voice but Ron didn't seem surprised by my presence.

"It doesn't work!" the girl said in frustration. "You can't just… just wave your wand and have something happen because you say so!"

"Why not?" I asked, feeling confused.

"Because magic doesn't work that way!" she said angrily. "Wizards have spent hundreds of years discovering wand motions, finding the right words, and - and _studying_! Every book I read said that you can't just flick and make things happen!"

"So what? You're clearly wrong and those books are too," I said as though it were obvious. The girl grew red in the face and looked about ready to yell at me, so I continued before she could. "Books are just paper containing words. It doesn't have to be correct or particularly knowledgeable material inside. Writing a book is recording what a person knows and people often think they know something when they don't, leading to books having incorrect information all the time. As for the studying and ministry mandated books saying whether to flick your wand daintily or with poise I have to say that it's entirely bollocks." I took a few steps towards a stunned Hermione and plucked her wand from her hands.

"Wingardium leviosa," I said, swishing and flicking the wand as I remembered from the Harry Potter movies at one of the several closed books next to Hermione's feet. It rose up in the air steadily, coming to a standstill as I stopped moving Hermione's wand. I was just using motion affinity to move it, but nobody had to know that. I had read enough magic theory in the forbidden section when I was bored to know what I was talking about.

"See? It worked fine," I said. I dropped Hermione's wand into her lap and the book stayed in the air. "Now, umm, winner, winner, chicken dinner." I pointed at another book with my pinkie finger. The same effect happened as when I used the wand.

"Now, the same effect happened because the magic did the same thing as before. Having a wand didn't change a thing. It's not the wand that makes an effect happen. It's not the motion or the words or how hungry you are. It's willpower and belief. Magic works because you say so. It's the authority to bypass traditional physics, the natural order, and substitute your own. Studying something as fluid as belief and will personified is foolishness that tries to normalize something abnormal. Now quit trying to do whatever it is you're doing and do it."

Hermione pressed her lips together and picked up her wand. I took it from her hand wordlessly and she glared at me. I remained unimpressed and she looked at the books I had levitated. Her magic moved a little bit and she waved her hand. Nothing happened. She waved her hand a few more times, her magic moving less each time.

"Nothing," she said bitterly. I hummed, looking pensively at the girl. I decided then to do something a bit immoral that would probably help her in the long run. I'd call it tough love. If it didn't work I'd feel terrible and apologize, but I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was.

"Not surprising. You're hardly an exemplary witch," I said, a little mind magic going into Hermione. I put some aura in the spell with the intention to make it glow a bit and a bright little brownish green stream flowed into her from me that everybody could see but her, a facet of the mind magic I was using on her, though it faded from sight after a few seconds.

"I-wha-I get perfect grades!" she protested. 

"So?" I asked callously. "Magic is important but what have you really done? Harry's killed a basilisk, stolen from a dragon, killed Voldemort, and so forth. Ron's been with him through it all and is probably one of the most loyal people in Britain. Draco battled with the demons I summoned with a bravery you sure haven't shown and has probably studied more dark arts than you've ever heard of. Even nervous little Neville has a green thumb to the point that Professor Sprout noticed. What do you have?"

I felt Helen trying to tell me to stop but I was getting closer. She was getting more unstable, her magic swelling. She was concerned for her kids, I knew, but a little pain now would help her in the long run to be more powerful. She wouldn't have to feel insecure about being less powerful than Harry or strive to catch up. Family was worth the pain, no matter how much, and I had already screwed Harry over. I could help fix this a little, drive his friends closer to him and stop being jealous.

"I'm one of the smartest witches of the generation! Everyone who's not a bigot has said so!" Her voice grew a little more vicious, a little more fearful that I was right. I pressed that. Ron tried to say something but I forced him to sit down magically and stilled the air around his mouth to silence him.

"Really? If you're so bright what have you done to stand out above the rest? Who's attention have you gathered? How many people talk about you? You've been nothing but Harry's second best friend. The sidekick of the sidekick. A tagalong. And even then they just tolerate you. How much have they complained about how bossy you are?" Hermione's upper lip quivered and her eyes looked a little wet but she didn't cry. I could feel anger, fear, and sadness in her, all in large quantities.

"I-I help! I'm not a hero but I can help!"

"Oh really? How?" I asked. She hesitated and drew herself up to look more stubborn, or so she probably thought.

"I helped them escape devil's snare in first year! I know more spells than them! Everybody knows it! They couldn't do their homework without me!"

"Oh my, missing homework. Harry was probably busy saving lives and fighting evil. Ron was right there beside him, watching his back to the end. And devil's snare? Truly? It's common knowledge that it doesn't eat still victims. It's in the first year textbooks, even. Harry and Ron panicked a little but they would have been fine as they always are. They've done their best when you weren't there, after all. Use that memory you have to recall the basilisk, beating the trials to the stone, making the friends you'll never have…"

I felt like a massive dick already, this was taking longer than I expected, but I felt her magic. It was writhing, pulsing, and growing. Her world affinity was beating like a heart, stirring up her magic even more. Some objects around us shook ominously. She just hadn't hit that critical breaking point yet.

"Who cares about the variety of spells? Harry has nonverbal magic now, remember? The skill you just fail to understand. He can do so much more than you and your efforts here just show how you're falling behind, becoming less important. Just the third wheel trying to act important as a bossy. Little. Know-it-all."

"NO!" she screamed, her emotions blowing past a boiling point. Her magic exploded out of her, waves of mana, affinity, and raw, strong emotion tearing from her. Immediately the mind affinity I was using on her to heighten her emotions changed, reinforcing the memory of this feeling for her to the point that it would always be with her.

The magic crashed against the common room like a physical force. Cups went flying away from her, students were pushed mightily from their chairs, falling to the floor or being forced against the wall. Ron went tumbling over the sofa and even the books next to her were tossed across the room. I was the only thing in the room unchanged. My void shielded my skin, keeping myself from being affected at all.

I clapped politely and watched Hermione look around in horror, her eyes red and puffy, a few tears even falling from them. She tried to stand up but I grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down. I gave her some mana and hoped her affinity was up for just a little bit more work. She had clearly strained it in the wave of force. 

"Pull on your magic. Remember the feeling, the raw power of it. Remember how it rushed outwards like a dam breaking. Make that breaking dam a stream. Harness it. Control it, and will this book to rise. No wand." I pulled the same book I had levitated earlier in front of her to the floor at her feet.

The whole room was silent, even Ron, as Hermione stared at the book. She raised a shaking hand and her magic responded like a new limb; a little unstable but controlled. Some mana and world affinity fused and were moved by Hermione's will, weak as it was. In front of everybody's eyes the book shimmied a little into the air and shook a little. Eyes moved from the book to Hermione's bare hand.

"Good," I said approvingly, feeling proud that she had achieved something few could hope to achieve. With her insecurities settled in her new power, her relationship with Harry might be fixed. "Now you can do something with ease that even Harry can't. I hope you learned-" Hermione's hand suddenly stopped and the book fell to the ground with a thunk. Her feet pounded on the carpet as she fled the room, faint sobs audible as she ran.

The room was silent. Then accusing eyes turned to me in the wrecked common room. I looked at each person in the eye. I suddenly realized how I was alone in the room, not a single eye happy with me. In fact, I watched as Ron got to his feet and marched to me. He didn't hold back as he slammed a fist into my gut. I didn't move and he looked up at me with fury in his eyes.

"Leave," he snarled. The accusing eyes agreed and I wondered if I should explain why I made her so emotionally unstable. Accidental magic was harder to draw out later in life, but it was magic at its purest, rawest form. But I looked around and decided they wouldn't see my reason. So I walked solemnly away from the common room, leaving Harry behind.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I was sitting on top of the school. It was bright and sunny outside but I still felt crappy. 

"She needed emotion. She needed to touch magic," I said calmly. "If she didn't find that spark, that source, she would have fallen behind. Wandless magic isn't her book fare, or a swish and a flick. She doesn't have that gut connection like Harry does. I had to make one." Helen was silent. I could faintly feel her emotions but they were in turmoil and she wanted to spend some time away from me. So I just spoke aloud and assumed she would hear me. I just wanted somebody to know why I did what I did. It was grisly and left a lot of hurt feelings in my wake, but it was for the best.

"… Do I need to say more? Justify myself? I can't stay here forever. I won't. There are places to be, people to see and responsibilities I have. I can't play mother hen forever like you can. They have to grow up. I was only focusing on Harry, but he was leaving his friends behind. I know what it's like to be alone. He's sort of my pupil, you know? I wouldn't leave him to abandon his family or stop learning. He has potential, so much of it. But he won't draw it out alone. He needs guidance." I took out some vodka and a shot glass from my soul space. I felt like drinking right now. Helen didn't stop me as I poured a little.

"I guess I've been pushing him hard. Nonverbal magic at, what, fifteen? Fourteen? He's stronger than most. He's still stupid and inexperienced but that'll change. I can't give experience, after all. But letting him do that alone? I wouldn't do that." I took one shot straight down and sighed at the faint burning feeling that went down my throat. I swallowed again and poured another, taking that one too before I went back to talking.

"He needs his sister and brother, his Ron and Hermione. They'll help him. I wouldn't condemn him to only having me around. Seriously, travel around with a guy like me? He's still bright eyed and happy. I don't think he's ever lost people and I don't want him to have my less than savory traits rub off on him. Power's one thing. But learning other stuff? Pah." I took another shot and let myself hear the silence of the rooftop. A faint breeze went through and ruffled my hair lightly. My ears twitched and I felt a little cold despite the warmth in my gut.

The silence didn't feel stifling but rather encompassing. It was larger than life as I looked out over the Scottish countryside, the sun setting slowly to my left and the lake rippling softly. I had the idle thought that if I wanted to I could end it all. I could decimate the countryside, hell, the entire country. I didn't have to flood the place. I was a magical nuke, a gateway to the greater void. I could be cthulhu and rip the life from the very air, leaving Helen dead in an instant and rending the souls of the students to nothing.

The grass would wilt without natural affinity around as saturated in magic as it was. And when I had scoured the land with void to a barren wasteland I could destroy more. I could barrage the stony walls with lightning, tear the ground beneath the castle out from under it in an earthquake, split the skies to rain fire from above. I could end it. Just leave Harry and his problems forever. Or return later in a different dimension, let Hermione drift away from Harry and his power and laugh as I knew that I was right, that I was justified to show her how magic truly was.

Another shot went down my throat. And then another. And a third. I leaned back and looked with hooded eyes at the countryside, other dark fantasies going through my head. I could do horrible things. I could rape, kill, torture, and dominate without care. I could savage bodies and relish as the ignorant dreams of others were crushed.

What were they worth, anyways? There was always another reality. I could devote my life to wretched things and it would change nothing. A billion, a trillion other Abysses would be doing the same thing. Septillions. Novem-whatevers of me. And as many others would be sitting happily on Remnant watching Jaune crack a joke and Ruby snort orange juice. She'd spit and make a grossed out face and blow her nose while Pyrrha, Jaune, and I would laugh. In all those realities that very scene was going down. And when our laughter had died down, our smiles settled, Ruby would look at me, Jaune, and Pyrrha, and smile, her eyes bright knowing that it was forever, that the future was bright because we were together, because family was stronger than anything.

And I would see Summer smiling through her.

The bottle half empty shattered on the side of the tower. I threw the bottle aside and downed the next shot violently and slammed it down on the roof. It shattered and I gripped my hands around the shards. They didn't even break my skin, being crushed to dust before they cut me.

I looked beside me, seeing Ophis looking at me without judgement, her eyes not glassy and without emotion but deep and empathetic even as her face was stoic. Her soul, an eldritch thing beyond even mine, seemed to be all around me, like a hug made of void. But it wasn't warm. It wasn't cold. It wasn't anything. It was just there around me, holding me.

"What's the FUCKING POINT?!" I yelled at her, my eyes stinging. "THEY AREN'T HERE! NOBODY'S FUCKING HERE!" I slammed my hand on the tower roof as hard as I could. It broke under my strength, dust floating around. An idle desire made a strong wind blow the dust away but it was too strong and tore the roof further apart. I gave up and iced it over instead.

"Ruby's DEAD!" I yelled from the rooftop out to the hills of Scotland. "Jaune's DEAD! Pyrrha's DEAD! Even fucking SALEM'S DEAD! Dust fucking knows about Raven! She's probably out drinking away her sorrows like Qrow! Just another sad fucking person drinking away her problems! Who even cares anymore?! I'm not there and I was everything! I relied on them and they left me just like I left them! So fucking what if I didn't have a choice! I should have been prepared! I could have been prepared! I would still have my family and everything would be fine!"

Another bottle came to my hands. I drank it for a few moments, not using a glass. It burned.

"I lost!" I yelled again at Ophis. My soul roiled with fury and it pushed her soul away. "They were everything! Fucking all I had! I don't care about anything else, don't you see?! THEY WERE ALL I HAD!" I felt a wetness on my face. I drank more and gasped a breath in.

"I-I don't want to be alone!" I sobbed. Ophis was closer now. I grabbed her and held her to my chest. "I just don't want to be alone! I don't care about my freedom or my happiness or pain or my magic! I don't care about Harry or Claire or Kuroka or fucking Esdeath! I'm friends with a serial killer and fucking a terrorist! They're more well adjusted than I am! I'm here… crying on the shoulder of a goddess with a dead soul, a fucking emotionless doll who spends more time crying about PEACE AND FUCKING QUIET than real people problems! Fuck…" I pulled her closer. She was too short to properly put my face on her shoulder so I pulled my knees upwards to push her up. A few seconds were spent breathing heavily. Then I pushed her away and took a tissue out of my soul space and blew into it before tossing it off the tower.

I sat in silence sniffling a little bit and feeling the mass of bitterness and anger in me.

"You don't mean it," she said softly. "You love them."

"Fuck loving them. I love Ruby. I love my family. They're not family. They're a character from a hentai trying to be an anime and a murderer with a personality that you can sum up in two words. Cute sadist. Fuck them. I had people to care for and they're shallow replacements," I snarled.

"And me?" she asked. I was silent. "Do you hate me?" she asked again. I refused to answer her. Silence went across the countryside. Even the birds weren't chirping. The silence was suffocating again but I had my knees at my chest and I ignored it.

"Abyss… what do you feel about me?" she asked again.

"You're a fucking dragon god. You're not human. You don't feel. You could travel dimensions and get a million more of me if you felt like it," I snarled weakly. My soul struck again, biting at her. She took it without comment, though her soul recoiled slightly, seeming hurt. Fucking liar.

"Yes I do,"sShe replied. "I feel hurt. I feel pain and I feel fearful sometimes… I love you." I was silent. Ophis was silent too as she wrapped her arms around me, this time pressing her face against my shoulder. The silence felt a little lighter. I continued ignoring it.

Then I heard a sniffle. I looked to the side without moving my head and saw Ophis' face looking down. Her eyes were the tiniest bit red. Small tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes and she was frowning. Our eyes met. The silence became a little more meaningful and I stopped fighting her soul. Ours meshed a little, connecting in a strange way and I felt a stillness I never had before. It wasn't very different from our hug, but more personal. Ophis cried silently on my shoulder, something I hadn't thought was possible, and I felt sad for it.

Reluctantly my arms stopped hugging my knees and I hugged her, feeling badly again.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said what I did," I said quietly. I felt regret and tried to convey this through my soul. "I don't hate Kuroka. I don't hate Esdeath or you or Harry. I don't even hate Claire." Ophis' sniffles died down a little and we hugged quietly. I could, very faintly, feel her heart beating. I didn't know she had a heart.

I silently drew on the void, the connection to it I had through Ophis making it smooth beyond belief, like pivoting more than taking a step, and we arrived on the couch of Kuroka's apartment. I grabbed the familiar blankets and tossed them on the couch. I stripped myself with space magic, not wanting to let go of Ophis. She closed her eyes and did something, becoming completely naked. I didn't really care. I wrapped us in the blankets somehow and we just hugged. I didn't fall asleep but I did close my eyes and Ophis did the same.

I didn't think she fell asleep either but neither of us moved for a long time. When I heard the door open and Kuroka come home I didn't open my eyes then either. I felt her try to fit onto the couch with us, bringing another blanket with her. I squeezed against the cushions and opened the blankets. She didn't react to Ophis but pressed against her, wrapping her arms around me. I shifted a little to get the three of us more comfortable and sighed deeply. It felt right.

Then I fell asleep. I liked to think that Ophis did too.

**AN: Holy shit… where did this come from? Did my muse take a line of coke and glue me to the computer? Because that's what it felt like. I thought this would take more effort to get out but… Well here we are. **

**I've been planning this for awhile. Avoiding being alone with his thoughts, constantly seeking a distraction, the reminiscing about Ruby, and other stuff on a smaller scale. I needed to let Abyss' issues fester until he had to deal with them, something Ophis could see too if you'll look back to the interlude. **

**In case you didn't notice, he was projecting some of his issues with Ruby onto Hermione, namely Ruby's desire to nor be left behind power-wise by Abyss, leading to her murder of the winter maiden. Abyss thought he was sparing Hermione a similar fate. In a way he kind of was, but you can see just what happened because of his actions. Trauma like he has naturally leads to bad decisions. **

**There's also Ophis. 'I love you' can mean a lot of different things and we'll be exploring this more later. It's sudden for you all and it's sudden for Abyss too. That was intended, not spontaneous like I've done before. **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I'm not late! Whooo! Oh, and there's a lemon here. I realize that I said last time that there was one last time but I looked back and realized that I was having a hard time writing it and didn't want to be late so I uploaded it. My bad. But this one is extra long, like 3 pages of smut, so whatever. Enjoy (or skip if you're not into it. It's my first time writing so it's completely forgivable). **

[|||| =**LEVEL 9**= ||||]

I woke up feeling light, like I had let a burden off my chest, but also heavy in that my mouth was dry and my head hurt a bit. The first sight to greet me, which simultaneously made me feel more light and exacerbated my headache, was Ophis' face sound asleep and Kuroka's long hair behind her falling down her chest. She was also naked, but really as weird as my life had been, nudity wasn't surprising anymore.

I closed my eyes and dragged up what had happened… Hermione, the emotional breakdown, Helen's decision not to talk to me, and saying a lot of really hurtful things I didn't mean. I felt bad again and found myself squeezing Ophis a little more and felt better. A little life magic flushed my headache away and I put a parallel to work making breakfast for the three of us while I hugged everyone a little tighter.

It wasn't long before Kuroka woke up, a very cat-like yawn escaping her, and I cracked an eye to look at her. She looked to me with lazy eyes. "Morning," she whispered. "We can talk later." And she closed her eyes again. I noticed that she was hanging off the edge of the couch, which was already crowded with me and Ophis, but she didn't seem disturbed by her perilous position so I didn't ask. I didn't feel like speaking much. I was a bit emotionally drained. If there was anything stressful at all I'd just explode it.

… I wasn't going to work today.

Eventually I decided enough resting was enough and moved to get up. Kuroka rolled out of bed herself and went straight to the shower, still yawning.

"It's time to get up?" I heard a voice ask. I looked down to see Ophis' grey eyes looking up a little at me, seeming inquisitive. I nodded in response to her question.

"Do we have to wear clothes?" she asked. I blinked and thought about it.

"No, I don't think so." She smiled a little and I rolled up myself. She took the blanket Kuroka had been using and rolled herself in it and propped herself up on the arm of the couch. I walked to the shower, which was already running, and stepped in with Kuroka. I kissed her softly and we started washing each other. That, of course, led to sex, but it was hardly exciting sex. It was slow and somehow rejuvenating. I felt like it was both of us saying everything was alright.

When we both got out dressed in casual clothes, Ophis opened an eye and a black glow covered her for a moment. It faded and she had on a bra and panties on but nothing else. Then she grabbed towards one of my shirts in the bedroom and it flew to her hand, where she promptly slipped it on.

"It smells like silence," she explained. I looked at the shirt through my magical senses but didn't see anything void-related. Maybe she was just associating me with the void at this point.

I took the breakfast from my parallel, a bacon and egg sandwich for me and Kuroka and sugary cereal for Ophis that had been wiped of affinity with void (She seemed pretty happy with it judging by her small smile when she saw it). We sat at the small table Kuroka had for a minute before Ophis spoke up.

"I love you," she said, looking at me. "Does that mean we should have sex?" I didn't know how to respond to that so I just said what came naturally.

"Do you want to?" I didn't mind either way, though Ophis' body looked a bit immature. I knew it might cause problems later but in my current state I dismissed it as a 'later' problem. Things got complicated when a god looked like a cute twelve year old. Maybe she'd change it later. I knew she would if I asked, but I wanted it to be her decision for some reason.

"I don't know," she said simply. "I've never loved anything but the void before."

"Hmm…" I thought. It made more sense to me now why she loved me, if she really did. She had no reason to lie, of course, but love was a weird and difficult subject. "Do you want to have kids with me?"

"Yes," Kuroka said immediately with a smile. We both ignored her.

"That sounds… nice," Ophis said, tilting her head a little, her eyes staring into space. She looked down into her cereal. "Can we have kids?"

"… Yeah," I said quietly. I had just about come to terms with the fact that I was a very lonely person. I needed more people in my life to anchor me. It was a selfish reason to have kids but a good one, I thought.

"And sex makes kids?" she asked, her eyes not ashamed at all. Not that Kuroka or myself were ashamed either. The mood didn't really allow it.

"Physically it does. If it's you and me, our souls make a kid. You don't truly have a body, do you?"

"I have a physical presence. My soul is too… big to not have one," she said. I shrugged.

"That's probably good enough. We can try out sex and see if that works. If it doesn't we'll find another way. I'm still going to travel, though. I'm just going to always come home at the end of the day. There's still so much for me to do." Ophis smiled in a small, pleasant way and changed seats to sit beside me rather than across from me to rest her head on me. I leaned down and lightly kissed her. She reciprocated amateurishly but was smiling a little brighter at the end of it.

It felt right again, seeing her smile. Off to the side Kuroka watched us fondly. I had no clue what was going on in her head but I had a good feeling in my chest that things would work out.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"So… do you want kids… now?" Kuroka asked a little hopefully. She was laying down on perhaps the greatest couch in the world while I had Ophis on my lap, one of my hands resting on her head, and was reading some of my old research notes. I paused and then nodded.

"Just a few to start. At this point it would feel like procrastination to say no. And I repeat, I'm not going to stay in this dimension. I'll be doing pretty much what I'm doing now but I'll be home often to take care of any kids we have." She smiled kindly.

"Yeah… and you're up for the harem?"

"I prefer the term polyamorous relationship but essentially yes," I said. I scratched Ophis' head a little. She sighed in bliss and reclined on me. "I don't know what I'm going to do about Esdeath. I guess I'll just tell her the truth and see how things go."

"What about Claire?" she asked.

"I… I think I was using the zombie world to avoid something. It didn't really solve my boredom. It just distracted me. I don't think I want to go back there. Time doesn't pass in that dimension anyways. I might revisit it eventually, but it only has bad memories for me now."

"Good. Be happy," Ophis muttered.

"That's why I'm okay with this thing you have with Ophis," Kuroka said. I looked at her curiously, imploring her to go on with my eyes. "You weren't really happy before," she explained. "You had happiness when you visited Esdeath and had fun stealing furniture - weirdo - but I started to wonder why you always had to be busy doing something. It was like you couldn't stop to smell the roses and kept getting more work for yourself. I… I didn't know what to do about it. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I said. My hand left Ophis' head to scratch Kuroka's ears. She closed her eyes and purred happily.

"I have to share now," Ophis said unhappily. I set the book down and scratched her head with my left hand. "Better," she said approvingly. I continued for a moment and withdrew my hands, wrapping my right arm around Ophis and reading with my left.

"… So Ophis do you wanna know some tricks for sex?" Kuroka asked mischievously. I sighed. Ophis looked at Kuroka out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at me and my flat gaze. She slipped out of my arm and grabbed Kuroka's hand. The two disappeared behind the bedroom door and I heard murmurs. I consciously tuned out anything they talked about and immersed myself in my old research.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I had brought out my old games and was playing with my two… wives? Girlfriends? Family. Family works best. It was fun to play with other people for once.

"Your people are so unhappy," I said in amusement, looking at the little frowny face on the toolbar as Ophis took her turn playing Greece in Civ 6.

"They will suffer so that you may fall," she said darkly, continuing to sell all the commodities like marble she had for gold to fuel her armies invading Africa.

"Could you take care of the barbarians around India for me? You've got so many soldiers. I can pay," Kuroka asked, having been pinned against the Pacific where Japan constantly invaded her and a stream of barbarians from the west for the entire game. She had been stagnating for most of the game.

"Do your own work, cat."

"Yeah, Kuroka. You'll never get better if not through conflict."

"I'll never get anywhere without growth either!" she complained.

"Oh, really? What a shame," I said humorously. I kept conquering North America. I had most of Canada already and was slowly making my way into Central America. I was also keeping a few warships around Mexico to annoy Kuroka later even if it would be better to wear down South America with them before I conquered it. I felt like Ophis was thinking of doing the same thing with her armies around Arabia and was waiting for her signal. My turn finished quickly, I was much more experienced after all, and it was Kuroka's turn again.

"Yeah. A real shame… can I politically marry? I've got some diplomats hanging around doing nothing."

"Trade with Japan," I said.

"They're at war with me!"

"No, no. I meant trade your nation to them. It's inevitable anyways."

"Psh. Nope… hey wait, Indonesia has stuff worth trading for now." She looked at the trading menu with interest.

"Get better boats," Ophis recommended.

"Can I buy off Japan?" She ended her turn.

"No… but you can buy off me," Ophis said, moving her armies through India and sweeping the barbarians in one quick turn.

"What? Why?"

"Operation pincer is a go." I began moving my fleets across the Pacific.

"What?! Oh, come on!" she exclaimed, realizing what we were doing. I made a fist towards Ophis, which she fist-bumped, while Kuroka looked at us in betrayal.

"The dark empire knows no honor. Only blood can satisfy my citizens."

"Or you could stop selling all your commodities."

"No."

[|||| =-= ||||]

"I can't believe it…. They were useful," Ophis said in some faint awe.

"Well actually… I mean, yes. This is here entirely because of my excellent cult management skills," I lied bold-faced. The three of us stood in front of a large manor in the middle of nowhere if nowhere was southern Maine. It was basically nowhere.

The manor was a little plain for its large size. A lot of lumber had clearly been used in it's creation where it had wood pillars at the entrance, varnished wood around all the windows, wood floors everywhere, and just in case you decided you needed more wood there was a wood stockpile outside the manor beside a wooden tool shed. I had five square miles of more wood all around me that I now owned too, because why not?

"I never thought your cult would turn out to be much use," Kuroka agreed, stepping forward and opening the door to the manor.

"They've swelled a lot since I took down the old devil faction. I got a lot of devils who appreciated me a lot. I got donations, recruits, and people donated safehouses like this one that I don't pay taxes on. So this is my house now."

"I like it." Kuroka grinned, looking around the entrance of the manor.

"It's quiet," Ophis said, closing her eyes to listen around the forest. That meant she liked it too. It was silent, though.

"I'll factor in some void enchantments when I create the runic defenses. I'm intending to repurpose the panic room in the basement for you to use. It'll be quiet. Besides, there's not much use for a panic room when we're… us."

Ophis looked pleased and started wandering around the manor. I kept my parallels working on making layers of rune circles coming inwards to the manor. I wanted the place to be able to tank a shot from Sirzechs and work fine. That was doable since I had a few billion points of mana in my sub-dimension and a LOT of affinity. I just had to make some runes to hold the affinity and mana, and use them as fuel for the defenses.

Ophis and I wandered around the bottom floor, of which the most important areas were the kitchen, the workshop, and the spa. The spa inside the manor was probably one of the best features. It was too cold outside for a pool, after all.

When we went upstairs I looked around the empty rooms and a few commodities like a recreation room. The master bedroom was nice, and it had a big closet to store all the outfits women apparently needed. Ophis didn't understand it either, but Kuroka insisted that it was important.

The bed was also a lot bigger than Kuroka's old one at her apartment. You could fit like six people on it. I suspected that it was preparation for my apparent lovers, but Kuroka hadn't given me the house. Elseria had…

I pushed those thoughts far away. Whatever she thought I did in my free time was to be in her head and away from mine.

"That's a big bed," Ophis said, mirroring my thoughts.

"It's convenient, suspiciously so," I agreed. We waited in silence for a moment and I moved to leave, but Ophis grabbed the back of my shirt.

"I like this place… It will be good for kids," she said. I was getting better at reading her emotions after spending more time with her. It made me curious as to why she was purposefully acting more stoic than usual.

"Yeah, it will be. There might be better ones though." Ophis nodded.

"It's just a house… And a little dusty. But I like it. It's ours," A faint tinge of red went to her cheeks. "So…" I looked between her and the bed.

"Oh," I said dumbly.

"I want kids," she said in the same tone. I was pretty sure it was a demand, though.

"I want kids too!" Kuroka yelled from outside the room. Was she listening in?!

When Ophis glowed black again I gave in and took my shirt off. So this was happening.

"Nyaaa! The door's locked! I want to do lewd things too!" I didn't mention that I was keeping the door locked with my metal affinity and sat on the bed, putting Ophis onto me. She looked up at me, still too short, and frowned.

"Tiny…" she muttered. She closed her eyes and glowed black again. She grew a little, still tiny, but she was tall enough that she could kiss me without me having to lean down awkwardly. She looked more mature, more like a short seventeen year old than a twelve year old. I felt relieved that I wouldn't feel like a pedophile and kissed her a little harder.

"... I like that," she said, looking pleased. "Give me more."

"NYAAAAA!" I would let her in after Ophis and I had warmed up a bit. She would just rush things and I was happy to have a slow day. Kuroka kept whining loudly outside the door as we kept making out. I didn't feel bad about it at all.

**[Lemon - starts slowly]**

Ophis was amateurish when it came to kissing. She obviously had a little experience but for the most part she was fumbling trying to see what I liked and repeating that. I patiently guided her through it, occasionally humming or growling to direct her. Kuroka, thank dust, quieted down after some more whining and complaining.

Experimentally I tried nibbling on her lip. Ophis yelped into my mouth and bit down. I winced.

"Ahow, sthtahp, Othis, hey." She opened her mouth and stopped biting my tongue while I grimaced and quickly healed my tongue while she looked confused.

"Why'd you bite me?" she asked.

"Some people like that."

"Some people _love_ that!" Kuroka's voice shouted distantly. She wasn't outside the door. What was she doing?

"Oh… can you do it again?" She looked up at me innocently. I leaned in again and our mouths met again. After a moment I bit again and she groaned. "I like that," she mumbled into my mouth. She squirmed on my lap a little and her hands started to grip my shirt. All the heavy kissing, as well asher movements, even if they were unintentional, were getting me in the mood.

I decided to speed things up a little bit and pulled her closer, though I had to lean down a little bit more to compensate. Ophis got a little more explorative and put her hands under my shirt before making an odd noise.

"What?" I asked, separating for a moment of rest.

"Muscles," she said shortly. She sounded strangely pleased.

"Uh, sure." I ignored the strange interest, probably Kuroka's doing somehow, and pulled her shirt off, I followed immediately after.

"Mmm." She inspected my abs shamelessly. I was just confused. I had no idea that Ophis liked muscles. "Lie down," she ordered. I had no idea what she was doing but complied. She knelt down over my leg and looked at my abs.

"Gah!" I jerked a little when Ophis licked my abs. "What the-? You-? What?" When did she ever have those kind of tastes? What was going on?

"The cat was right," she noted, smiling creepily.

"Can we please move on?" I asked awkwardly. Why was I awkward? _She _was the virgin here!

"Mmh." Without hesitation she pulled off her shorts and threw them aside as I did the same. Then she knelt down again.

"Save it for Kuroka. Otherwise it's just messy." I pushed her face away from my dick and she nodded.

"What now?" I sat up and began trailing my hands over her. She squirmed a little more.

"Relax," I whispered in her ear. She held herself stiller but was still somewhat tense. I kissed her a little more to set her at ease and slipped two fingers into her when she was distracted.

A quick intake of air was all I got this time, having apparently learned that biting was not for other people's tongues. I was as gentle as I could be as I slowly slid my fingers in and out of her. She got progressively more comfortable with me, and wetter, as we continued. I was happy to feel her get more energetic and a bit sloppier as a consequence. She was finally beginning to get eager for sex instead of just curious.

I spent a few minutes heating things up further, kneading her small breasts and slowly fingering her faster. Then she whimpered, though not quite in a bad way.

"I think I'm coming," she said with a strange expression, something between aroused, curious, and excited. On the normally stoic girl it was foreign.

"Relax. It's your first time. Enjoy this," I told her. I rolled the tips of her nipples in my left hand and curled the fingers of my right. She began panting lightly.

"Oh… _oooh_," she moaned. I kissed the sides of her neck and went in for the kill. I pinched her clitoris lightly and she gasped as her hands tightened at my sides. I didn't let up and she squirmed again as she closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling.

"So?" I muttered after giving her a moment to recover.

"That was… nice."

"Excuse you, you're talking to a professional here."

"Very nice," she said in the same tone, sighing just after. I noticed a jingle from the doors and flexed my magic.

"Damnit!" Our pet cat cursed from outside.

"Get a better lockpick, you amateur," I called out. This prompted a slew of hissed and spat curses at me, my parents, and my genitals before she raced away to concoct another plan.

"Now?" Ophis asked, looking up at me with glittering amethyst eyes.

"Now we get to the sex."

"I like the touching."

"Then you'll love sex." This earned a doubtful noise from her while I curiously eyed my wet fingers and licked them. "Blackberry?" I asked a bit disbelievingly.

"Cat," we said at the same time, myself in realization. I scoffed at my first lover and pinched Ophis' butt, prompting a jolt and an annoyed look from her.

"No more delays. Come on." I turned us around and picked her up by the knees, holding her up above the bed.

"So how-nngh!" I kept to my word and pushed myself into her immediately, cutting her off. There was a moment of silence as I saw how she

"…More," she said, reverting to monotone, though there was still an embarrassed overtone to her words. I obliged and began thrusting, going faster than I normally would with somebody who seemed as gentle as she was. I had absolutely no chance of hurting somebody as powerful as Ophis. I could still fuck the hell out of her and make her first time memorable, though.

Ophis continued to squirm in my arms but I didn't stop thrusting. I might have even sped up a little bit. It seemed like Ophis liked to struggle a little for some reason. I'd find out later, maybe. I was more interested in how she wrapped around me.

Among the admittedly few lovers I had had Ophis was the tightest. She wrapped around me like a vice in what might have been a literal sense. My sense of pressure was a bit warped by my durability. It took actual effort to move in her no matter how wet she was getting since she just kept sucking me back in so hard.

"Harder," she muttered quietly. I worked to oblige, though it wasn't easy. I started moving her up and down with my thrusts. "Harder." I was going nearly hilt deep now and I could feel her insides writhing around my cock. Sex was a gentle term. We were fucking now and judging by how hard Ophis kissed me, she was liking it. I still had to nudge her hands to do more than grip my shoulders, though.

I didn't stop when I heard a boom behind us, though out of the corner of my eyes I saw Kuroka flinging her clothing off of her and even tearing her panties in her rush to get them off. She stepped beside me and Ophis and forced our mouths apart with her own hands, having to put actual effort into it. At Ophis' genuinely angry expression she pressed herself against her, shoved her tongue down her throat and pulled one of her smaller hands to her large chest.

"Push her down. Mmf! For the love of God she wants to be _fucked_, Abyss! Man up!" Kuroka nearly yelled at me with a brief interlude for rough making out. Ophis was gone now, her eyes more draconic than anything, her pupils slitted with a clearly magical aura that screamed possessiveness around her. Then Kuroka's words registered in my mind.

I dropped Ophis down onto the bed and positioned myself to thrust deeper and harder after a very brief second to wonder why sweet, gentle Ophis, who slept most of the day, would want rough fucking over gentle sex, though she seemed to like the latter a lot too.

Oh, whatever. Dragons, I guessed. I thrusted harder.

Kuroka moved Ophis' free hand to her pussy and grinded against her fingers until she got the hint. I began kneading her pert ass while Kuroka took her upper body over from me. Ophis' eyes were lost with bliss, nearly rolling up with both of our efforts at dominating her.

This continued for almost ten minutes. Ophis came twice, her legs wrapping around me both times and pulling me into her while the strange draconic aura around her flared, becoming almost oppressive around Kuroka and myself, though whether my first lover even noticed was debatable. Finally I came in her. I gripped her harder than before and pushed myself as deep as I could before pushing Kuroka out of the way to press Ophis deep into the bed and kiss her as deeply as possible. A more than satisfied moan left her as she finally came out of her craze a little and moved her hips against mine a little to try and ride her orgasm out. We both took a moment of stillness to recover before we were interrupted.

"Okay, your bliss is great but I am _really _horny so get up again," Kuroka insisted. I felt one of my ears flit in annoyance at her pushiness.

"Weren't you supposed to let us have our first time alone? So we could make it special?" I growled. I saw how Ophis was just laying down, utterly spent from her sexual frenzy.

"You were being slow," she insisted. I was tempted to dismiss her as payback. "I'll totally repay you but _please_, Abyss!" she pleaded. I considered it before pulling myself out of Ophis, after which she promptly crossed her legs and rolled over to meet Kuroka kissing me again.

"Ugh, fiine," I said in a faux-whine.

"You are going to have sex with this super hot cat girl and like it," she teased me.

"Mm-hmm," I grunted. I slipped a finger in her beyond easily. She was as wet as an ocean. It might have actually been a bit unhealthy to be that wet. With that done I felt an evil plan form and sat upwards.

Without wasting a beat I grabbed Kuroka's shoulder and pushed her down onto the bed. She groaned at my aggressiveness, though a throaty chuckle left her a moment after. Her ass wiggled at me suggestively and she smirked in anticipation as she looked back at me. I locked eyes with her, making myself look almost bored, and thrust inside her. She groaned at the feeling and I pushed forwards and backwards inside her a few times, to her confusion, though she didn't quite show it.

Then I pulled myself out of her.

"Wha? Hey! I was liking that! What-EEP!" I pushed myself into her asshole, more than lubricated enough from her cunt.

"If you want sex that badly, leaving me no chance at all to take a moment to rest, I might add, it'll be on my terms," I said with a slight drawl.

"But - but butt stuff is for… I'm _so wet_ \- gah!" I pulled out and slammed into her for that.

"No. My terms," I pulled out a bit and began slowly, almost effortlessly, sawing in and out of her. "Honestly you might be breaking records for just how wet you are but I don't really care. I'm also a bit peeved from not being in control with Ophis. I might have been on top but let's be honest, neither of us were really in control there. Stopping wasn't an option."

"I… yeah." Her voice sounded strained. I wasn't going fast enough for her, only making her hornier instead of relieving her. She tried to struggle a little but I pushed her down again, this time gripping her face. I pulled back for a moment before my other hand came down on her ass with a rough slap.

"Son of a-! That hurt!" she protested. There was a pause as she realized that I wasn't thrusting. "And keep moving, damnit!"

"So demanding… no. I want you to ask politely." I slapped her ass again and she hissed, genuinely hissed like a cat, and tried to move back. I gripped her ass and pulled nearly out entirely, barely leaving in my tip.

"No," I said sternly. We were both silent as she refused to ask instead of demand. It was mostly her obstinance and a desire to keep up our charade that kept her from asking politely. Some part of her wanted me to keep teasing her.

She squirmed again. I slapped her ass harder. "Gah! Fine! I'm sorry. Can you please keep fucking me?"

"Better," I acknowledged. I continued at my previous pace.

"Faster… please."

"See, now you get results." I obliged her, getting back into the mood myself. I let up the pressure on her, letting her lift her head up from the covers of the bed. I didn't let her move herself, though. The pace was still too slow for her.

"Good god, fine! Abyss, my awesome, super powerful and total dom of a lover, would you please, please _please_ fuck the daylights out of me? I don't care if it's my ass! Just fuck me!"

"Better," I growled, letting my possessiveness shine through. I enjoyed her ass a little more, kneading it as I moved my hips. Her ass felt great, tighter than her pussy, but it still felt similar. "Now… why are you so horny?"

"Ophis!" she said loudly, her voice breathy. "Watching you fuck Ophis!… Dust, that was so sexy." I slapped her ass lightly this time. She tensed around my dick and I enjoyed the sensation. I wanted more from her. But making her do what I wanted was just as fun.

"Hm? A voyeur?" I asked, thrusting a little extra hard inside her once to see her ass ripple.

"God, yes," she shivered. "The polygamy thing… that turns me on. Your cock is fantastic but having Ophis kiss me like she did was _awesome_!" That was hot I leaned down to her neck and bit a bit harshly. She clenched again around me and I slammed into her just a little harder one time before stopping.

"Mhm… I think you've earned it. Between the three of us, you do make a wonderful sub." I let her up and grabbed her shoulders as I began thrusting hard enough to give her relief. We took it slower than before since I was more tired than when we started out.

In the doggystyle position we started in I kept up my pace for a few minutes before we both started to get bored and I tried some new angles. It was fun when I pushed her forwards into the bed frame and pounded her against it.

Then I lifted a leg up and began to finger her. The two feelings from her pussy and ass made her gasp out and sag a little, when I took the opportunity to bite her breast and grope the other. She bent flexibly to grab my sides and cry out. Her nails left light gashes in my sides. I didn't mind. It was proof that she was having a fantastic time.

Finally I leaned back and she began riding me, rising and falling energetically with my cock in her ass, her hands pressing on my chest as I simply let her take over. She eyed me with eyes filled with lust and leaned over me, her breasts swaying.

I didn't even hesitate to be a little rough, once more going at my own pace as I enjoyed her breasts. I recalled all the times she had used them to get me off fondly and how, despite how I loved to play with them, like almost every hot blooded man, she was still sensitive by some miracle.

It was the thought of her breasts and lips around my cock that finally put an end to me. I groaned as I filled her ass. Hoping that she would be done I slapped her ass one more time and smiled when the surprise finished her off, her body clenching around me, though that didn't stop her from bouncing on my cock a few more times.

"Aaahhh… way better," Kuroka sighed, having finally reached satisfaction. I leaned back on the bed, thankful that it was large, and wondered if we were going to get going.

"… So how do you give a blowjob?" Ophis asked Kuroka. The perverted cat's eyes lit up once more. I groaned and pulled on my life affinity. I was in for a long day.

I did really want to see both of them sucking on my dick, though. I was living such a good life.

**[End lemon]**

[|||| =-= ||||]

I spent five days doing almost nothing with Ophis and Kuroka. After the first, I reached out to Elseria and took over the manor. The rest of our time was spent putting some personality into the residence and doing some cleaning, though most of that was my parallels using avatars.

An eclectic array of furniture was spread throughout the place, sometimes in odd fashions. I had stolen a lot of furniture from the teigu-verse, my time in Remnant, and my little adventures with Claire when I could get away with it. One or two sofas were fancy felt seats with golden sculptures of lions coming off the arms, while another might be nothing more than plain leather. All of them were comfortable, though. I had some other furniture than sofas: tables and recliners and a hammock. I didn't put them _all_ out, but I filled in a lot of the empty space.

I also took over the kitchen and met no protest from anybody. I put pans in cupboards, glasses sorted by height and make, alcohol locked away in the basement or, in the case of some of the nicer ones, in a cabinet, and I made sure to stock the fridge with everything I would need, including a few more exotic ingredients I had found in other dimensions.

Kuroka went on her own thievery spree and stole artwork from wherever she liked. I had to teleport her around a lot, though. In the end of it she had collected enough nice artwork to make the walls a little less barren. She also painted over the plain wood of a few rooms by herself, mostly using soft colors like royal purple and light blue.

Even Ophis chipped in when she wasn't enjoying the benefits of our new relationship. The casual thievery I committed and Kuroka's own spree seemed to rub off on her. Little baubles appeared around the house on side tables and windowsills from time to time. There were some statues, strange flowers, and a powerful holy sword that was probably treasured by the church before she stole it.

I worked hard on the runes when I left my body to sleep. I didn't need it all the time, after all. Motion mana engraved large trenches in the ground, big enough to lie comfortably in. Then metal affinity formed the strongest, most magically conductive metal I could produce into the grooves. I repeated this for all the thirty acres I officially owned.

The runes were just a barrier, but they were able to sense intent thanks to mind affinity and would set off an alarm if the circuit was tested or breached.

If somebody intended to harm me or the people whose mana was keyed into the barrier, they would be blocked. If somebody was just wandering around or passing through, they'd be fine. It was simple, but with how large the circle of runes was I put an enormous amount of mana into them.

Just in case, there was another barrier around the house that used hard light to disguise the house as just another part of the forest. Those two defenses were enough for me, though I might have to make more later.

Oh, and of course I made Ophis' chamber. Void was so heavy in that little panic room that it was actually affecting reality. I just had to trap imprints of my aura in runes that made a barrier and poured void into the room. It couldn't harm my soul so it just lingered in the room to Ophis' delight.

She still preferred to spend time with me and Kuroka, thankfully. It made me feel better about us as a couple that she chose me over the silence of void. She even tolerated Kuroka, though I got the odd impression that she thought of her as a cute pet more than anything. They got along well enough, though, which was plenty.

The manor didn't really feel like my home, but waking up between Kuroka and Ophis felt like one step closer to having a new family.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Where have you BEEN?!" Esdeath demanded, furious, the moment I brought myself to the teigu-verse. I stood a little straighter, a grimace settling into my face. She looked utterly furious.

"I…" Sleeping with my two girlfriends, playing video games with them, playing games while sleeping with them, and doing house work. Truly pressing things.

"Dealing with personal problems," I answered. Esdeath must have picked up on something since she glared at me harder. The room got colder. My breath misted in front of me and I saw frost collect on the sleeves of my shirt in the corner of my eye.

"Personal problems, " she said, her voice the utterly calm tone that spun poetry about how you had horribly fucked up. "And would you be specific as to these… Personal problems?"

I felt like I was a single mistake away from being killed, so I paused and decided to answer honestly.

"I was dealing with romantic problems. There was a bit of a shift in my relationship with Kuroka. I'm still working some things out." Esdeath stared coldly at me, as though putting my life on a scale.

She waved a hand upwards while clenching it. A small pillar of ice rose not far from her. I sensed her soul leave her body and move to the pillar. Her previous body turned to ice and I watched her step out of the newly formed ice somehow.

"I learned how to teleport with my ice and how to turn my body to ice. As per our agreement, you're cooking for me. Go. The cooks will move for you," she commanded me. She turned, her long hair whipping me in my face, and I finally had a chance to focus on something other than Esdeath's furious presence. General Liver, Esdeath's second in command, was standing in the corner looking stoic besides the sweat on his brow.

"So… what was that about?" I asked him. "She isn't on army rations any more, having taken over the palace and she's been busy managing all this occupation stuff, why is she _that_ angry?" He looked at me with a bit of pity.

"I'm sorry, Sir Mavros, but I have no wish to anger Esdeath." I frowned but didn't press him. Instead I made my way to the kitchen and watched the few cooks making snacks see me and flee in terror. Dishes cooking were taken off and shoved into corners, the maid at the scrubbing pot scrubbed like her life depended on it, which by the look on her face, it might have, and the cooks stood at attention against the wall farthest away from the stoves and counters save for the desperate maid.

"So… what's this about?" I asked. The cooks flinched and looked among each other. After a moment one plain looking cook stepped forward.

"G-General Esdeath said to give the kitchen to you immediately if you entered it."

"But then why are you all so afraid?"

"She yelled the order." I stared at the man, expecting more than just that. "Sh-she had her sword drawn! She said 'If Mavros enters this kitchen, even if he's just passing through, get out of his way immediately and do whatever he says. He is a master chef and a great friend of mine. Treat him like you would me or Liver.'"

Some facts started to click together. "Ah, you think this is serious enough for the death penalty," I concluded. The cook looked at me in confusion.

"It's not?" I thought about how much Esdeath enjoyed the dinner I made for her when we infiltrated the castle. I didn't have to wonder what she'd do if I had tried to take that dinner away.

"Actually, come to think of it, she would definitely kill you if you were late." The maid at the dishes squeaked in fear and set a pot half cleaned aside and sprinted across the room to the side the cooks were on.

"Just stay over there and try to blend into the background. I don't want you all to distract me. Actually… who among you knows every ingredient in here and where it's placed?" The cooks shrank back and looked around. I saw the most eyes settle on the one who spoke. "They're looking at you. Are you the head chef or something?" The plain faced chef nodded. "What's your name?"

"Shinji, sir."

"Well you're going to be helping me cook. Keep an eye on things and hand me the ingredients I ask for. I don't know where everything is. Now get me pepper, salt, ginger, coriander, peanut oil, margarine, and hand me an onion. We're making curry. The good kind that I can make. Not the powdery stuff, not that that you have curry powder here."

Shinji ran around the kitchen, immediately handing me an onion. I got to chopping on a cutting board. "I-if I may, sir? Who are you making this for?"

"Oh, I lost a bet with Esdeath. I'm cooking for her." Shinji jumped upwards and hit his head on the overhanging corner of a cupboard, dropping the glass jar of peanut oil. He froze in the face of death as it fell to the ground. I held my hand out and it shot to my hand. Nearly the entirety of the cooks in the kitchen breathed a sigh of relief except for Shinji, who had just stared into the face of death himself and had a pale-faced thousand-yard stare.

"Just so you know," I said. "If you actually drop something without good reason and I can't save it, I'm blaming a poorer quality meal on you. She's already pissed at me for leaving for five days. I'm not honorable enough to take that blame." Shinji nodded and I started giving him more orders] to fetch ingredients.

[|||| =-= ||||]

The cooks looked in interest at the curry I had made. Shinji had helped keep an eye on things and done the easier stuff like chopping some tomatoes and garlic. Well, he actually messed up with the garlic and was going to put it with the skin into the pot, the madman, so he had to do it again, but he was helpful all-in-all. I had to provide the rice myself and a few seasonings.

I also thought about adding a little grounded ice dust, since dust of a person's primary affinity tended to give you a nice feeling that went well with good food, but I couldn't think of a way to put it in without making the curry cool down too fast. It was a shame. I really liked the pop storm dust gave food sometimes, especially sweet products like cotton candy, not that I was much for candy. Maybe I could make… hm.

"Shinji," I said.

"Yes?" he asked obediently, much less afraid of me after I had only threatened to kill him after the garlic incident.

"Go collect the purest, finest, fluffiest snow you can. A whole bucket of it. Put this in it to keep it cool." I tossed him an ice dust crystal. He caught it and nearly fumbled it in surprise at how cold it was. "Bring it here and pick out any ice crystals. But first, do you have fruit syrups here?" He shook his head.

"Fine. I'll dig into my stores. I think I have a little," I checked my soul space. I only had blueberry, strawberry, and lemon syrup. "I have enough. Go collect the snow. Make sure you're back before Esdeath asks for dessert from me and remember that she eats fast."

"You, you, and you! Follow me!" Shinji pointed at the three burliest cooks. "We're taking the horses!" He ran out of the kitchen immediately without questioning my orders. I looked after them, hearing their pounding footsteps grow fainter.

"Hey wait a second, I can make pure snow," I realized. I channeled some ice affinity to my hands and let it out in tiny crystals. Pure snow appeared in my palm. "… Eh, whatever." It was something to laugh about with Esdeath. I looked at the waiting cooks.

"Well what are you waiting for?! There's food here that needs to be presented to your commanding General! Do you expect me to do all the work myself?!" Cooks sprang into action. The single nice plate with curry and some roasted vegetables and steamed carrots I had made as an afterthought was put on a silver platter and had an ornate cloche put over it. One handsome cook struggled to pull a nice suit on in the corner and the others put the saucepan, food, and some wine on a cart.

While they fiddled with a few things to make everything look fancy, even if it was just curry and vegetables, they looked at me for orders. I found Esdeath upstairs writing something in her room by sensing her affinities and started walking, the cooks following.

The one in the suit looked very comely in his suit and carried the platter with Esdeath's food in a dignified manner. The platter hardly tilted at all. It was kind of weird to see the food I made treated so well when most of the time I'd been feeding it to my sister, Raven, and a bunch of hungry ex-bandits. They didn't exactly respect fine dining rules.

When we reached the stairs the cooks muttered among themselves and four of them grabbed onto the sides of the cart and picked it upwards. "Stop," I said. "Put it back down there." I pointed at the ground floor. The cooks exchanged some looks and set the cart back down. I walked down the stairs and waved my hand, making a portal to the end of the stairs up at Esdeath's floor. I walked through it and the cooks followed after a brief hesitation.

I walked to the door, the cooks still following, and knocked. Immediately, all but the handsome cook and another calm looking one fled down the stairs for some reason. I ignored them, I heard Esdeath say "Enter," from behind the door. I opened it and stepped inside.

The king's chambers looked mostly the same except for some furniture having been moved around. The bed was sitting right next to the window now, which might have been cold for most people, but for Esdeath it didn't matter, ice demon blood and all. I ignored most of the changed furniture for the only table in the room, where Esdeath was sitting down to write in some journal. I noticed that she was in casual clothes rather than her officer's uniform, which was all I usually saw her in.

The clothes were simple but also pretty nice considering what I normally saw in the teigu-verse, where people still wore potato sack in some places and most people only had roughspun cotton, at least from what I saw in the Empire's capital. It was only cotton but it was still much finer than what the peasants were wearing, a long sleeved loose black shirt with open lace threads around the arms and wool pants. It was also, come to think of it, the first time I had seen her without her rapier on, though I noticed that it was leaning next to the bed. I absently noted that I was right and she did look better without a hat.

"That was quicker than I…" She trailed off and frowned. "Where's your plate?" She seemed confused.

"I thought I was just bringing you dinner," I said, equally confused. She seemed to realise something.

"Idiot," she muttered. She looked at the handsome cook in the suit holding her platter of food. "Set that down and go get a plate for him. At least tell me you made extra." The cook bowed his head and set the platter down on my side of the table. Esdeath looked down to her journal and up to me but then did a double take with wide eyes and tossed her journal away suspiciously quickly onto the bed and pulled her meal towards her, though she didn't take the top off the platter.

"I normally make extra. I thought you might want leftovers later," I explained, glancing towards the journal. I pushed aside my curiosity and figured I'd be with her for awhile so I pulled the second chair out and sat down as I put my sword into my soul space, leaving me in just a long shirt and pants.

"You know, some people in my position would be offended that you insinuated that they'd eat leftovers."

"Those people are far too picky. Nobles?"

"I'm technically a noble." She shrugged.

"Do you get some sort of special card that exempts you from having territory?"

"Actually yes," she admitted. "It's called military service. Politically any and all lands I had as a noble were turned into the kingdom as I signed my entire noble family up in service to the Emperor. It's usually done in penance as a more merciful way to atone for some sort of crime. Considering that I didn't have any lands or possessions when I joined the military it was just lip service from Honest."

"Honest?"

"The prime minister. He… 'advises' the Emperor and oversees military affairs, meaning me, until the prince is of age, though all of that is also a formality. He rules the Empire from behind the Emperor."

"Wait… is he that horribly obese noble? The one in the paintings around the halls of the palace?"

"That's him. You didn't steal any of his portraits, did you?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't want such ugly portraits." Esdeath snorted as the suited cook came into the room looking a little harried, but carrying a silver plate just like Esdeath's. She lifted up the cloche covering her plate and looked curious as he started dishing me up, trying to copy how I dished up Esdeath's plate.

"Oh? What's this?" She picked up her regular sized fork, ignoring the others, and cut into the curry.

"It's curry," I explained. "It's a bit spicy, but it's rice with a sauce made from quite a few things with some seasoned chicken thrown in."

"Chicken again?" she asked, taking a bite. By her smile she liked the food.

"There's not much white meat that people eat often. Pheasant, fowl, turkey, chicken, and probably some more obscure things. I think small monkeys have a lot of white meat on them. Red meat like boars, cows, deer, and rabbits… I've never tried it in curry before. Hm, I'll experiment some other time."

"Well it _is_ delicious, though I don't normally like spicy foods. I prefer tangy and sweet kinds," she said, taking another bite. I started on mine as the cook set my plate in front of me.

"Don't ignore the vegetables." Esdeath made a face. "Really?" I asked in exasperation.

"Fine," she said grumpily. She tried one and nearly choked in surprise. She gulped and took a deeper drink of wine, coughing once.

"I thought I did well with that," I muttered. I took a sip of the wine and thought it was surprisingly good. It was pretty fruity.

"It WAS good! That was why I was surprised!" she said in joy. She speared a carrot and kicked her feet a little under the table in childish happiness.

"Wait, you've never had decent vegetables?" I asked, confused again.

"No!"

"It's just salt and properly roasting them! I didn't even do anything to the carrots! They're just steamed!"

"Well the palace cooks always either char them or give out salads." She started digging into the vegetables more than the curry.

"That's just stupid," I muttered, slowing down with my food a little.

"Mm." Esdeath didn't really answer. She was too busy eating. After chewing for a moment she swallowed quickly. "So… where did you grow up?" I blinked in surprise, not expecting to have personal questions during the meal.

"In a desert called Vacuo. My parents didn't want me to go outside because we lived in a terrible neighborhood. Water was a scarcity that a lot of people tried to monopolize, including gangs. My father was one of the few people who tried to stand up to them. The gangs came to our door one day and killed them both. I found out I was magical when I killed them in return and wandered into the desert. I spent years out there doing effectively nothing. Then I got caught. A woman called Summer got to me and… well, she pretty much adopted me into her family. There's some other stuff that happened but to keep it short I got my 'teigu'," I glanced at the cooks standing ready for us. "And I wandered even as I kept close to my family."

"Mm… I had a similar childhood." She looked into my eyes speculatively. "I was born into the Partas clan, a northern tribe. I learned from my father the ways of our clan. How to hunt, kill, harvest danger beasts, and the rules of the world. One day I came back from a hunt and my clan was burned to the ground, too weak to resist the attack of a rival clan. I left for the south and Honest found me. The rest you can figure out for yourself."

"Teigu?" I asked. She nodded and took a bite. "What do you mean by rules of the world, by the way?"

"The strong rule and live. The weak serve and die. I myself serve as point in case," she said casually. I sighed. She was another Raven. "Why do you sigh?" she asked curiously.

"What do you think strength is?" I asked.

"The ability to dominate others. Killing normally, but others like Honest are strong in a lesser way. I can see the value in leading and managing the people, you know? I'm not a brute who only sees the value in combat." She looked at me, annoyed.

"I never said that," I said. "But it's nice to know we think similarly." Esdeath was caught off guard this time. After a moment, though, a wide, genuine smile went over her face. Then it turned a little confused, though nonetheless happy.

"Then… why do you not want me to torture others? I'm stronger than them. We both know it." The cooks looked uncomfortable in my peripheral vision but I ignored them.

"Because it's petty and childish," I said. "I can get sadism. It's not for me but I understand that there's a satisfaction in crushing others. I feel it too, you know? I hate losing fights and when I win I sometimes want to rub it in. But I don't because I prefer to respect everyone."

"Honor is for the strong to the strong. The weak are weak of their own choice. Everyone has the potential to be strong and a responsibility to see their potential fulfilled." Esdeath disagreed.

"There have to be weak people for there to be strong people," I said. "Would you want to farm your own food? Build your own castles? Of course not. But the weak, people like these cooks, the average people, can do a lot together that even the strong can't do alone. Doing things like torturing them or killing them indiscriminately spits on that, the work they do for us. Alone, sure they're weak, but all of them together are strong and I think we should respect that."

"There are many common people. They're replaceable. If a stage director sees an actor doing poorly he might fire him and never see him again, easily getting a new, better actor who knows he might be fired too. But I enjoy killing. I would kill the first actor and inspire greater results. People fear being killed more than losing their job, after all. I enjoy it, the hypothetical actors all grow more in line, and the result of the previous actor is the same. He is never seen again."

"But what about the actor's family? The people who knew him?" I questioned. Esdeath raised an eyebrow.

"What about them? Their family member wasn't skilled enough to avoid death. If he had been more skilled, more persuasive, or simply better he might have lived but instead he is dead. Perhaps it inspires them to be more competent, unlike their family member."

"And what of the old? The infirm who never had a chance?"

"It is harder for them. It always is," she said, a little sadness in her tone. "Perhaps their family will support the old out of respect or the infirm will become useful despite their limitations. Yet life is not fair and it never has been."

I frowned. Her philosophy made sense in a cruel way but I disagreed. "That's a cruel philosophy. I can't say it isn't right, though. But that doesn't mean it's the only right philosophy. I like to think that people should respect each other, even if it's an ideal. Everyone has talent, after all. Maybe that poor actor would be an excellent warrior or a decent farmer. Maybe the people around him are dragging him down somehow. Life is unfair, yes, but that doesn't mean that people have to be, especially when people who are strong like you and I can easily afford to help others."

"Hm… perhaps. Ideals are… messy. Sometimes when everyone has them they can become a reality, if only for a time. But sometimes they only end up killing you." Esdeath and I ended our small debate there, polishing off our food we had been eating while talking.

"Aah, that was nice." Esdeath leaned back, tilting her chair a little, a content smile on her face as she stretched, which consequently displayed her breasts prominently. Her eyes were closed in a satisfied way.

"It was pretty good," I agreed. "Have you got room for dessert?" Her chair slammed back down as she rocked back forwards, her eyes' satisfaction gone in an instant for eagerness. I chuckled and looked to the cooks.

"Is Shinji back with the snow?" I could feel Esdeath's inquisitive stare on the side of my face but I ignored her.

"Um, n-"

"I'm… here, S-sir Aby-Mavros! Sir Mavros!" I heard an exhausted voice say from beyond the door. Shinji opened the door, carrying a wooden bucket full of a fluffy, fine snow. It looked like it was from a recent flurry for some reason.

"Where'd you even get that?" I asked, puzzled. Outside all the snow was hardened to ice. It clearly hadn't snowed recently.

"The Eversnow Mountain ten miles northeast, sir. It's always snowing there." he said.

"We've only been eating for like… half an hour! Did your horses gallop the whole way?" Shinji nodded but his face sported a proud smile as he held up the bucket. "Well I'm impressed!" I said with a grin. "Despite the fact that Esdeath could create snow of even finer make with a snap of her fingers and I could have simply teleport you there had you asked, you followed my orders above and beyond what I expected!" Shinji's smile grew wooden and strained. There was a tense pause as he silently looked down at the bucket and gently set it on the food cart. He took a deep breath as he stormed very politely out of the room.

When he shut the door I started laughing at him and realized that Esdeath was joining me, to my surprise. "Dust, Shinji is great. I only threatened him once while we cooked!" I said to her.

"The former king did have taste choice in staff," Esdeath giggled. I noticed the cooks become sad and a little angry but they quickly hid it. "Now why did you need snow of all things?"

"Snow cones!" I grinned.

"Snow cones?" She seemed mystified but excited.

"Exactly! Though of course I have my twist to it. Here, I'll show you," I stood up and walked to the cart, Esdeath following me. I took the plastic bottles of syrup from my soul space and set them on the cart. "Snow cones are pretty simple. They're just ice and sugary fruit syrup normally. You take a cone of snow and just pour some of the syrup on them. It spreads and flavors all the snow. Some people like to use crushed ice but I don't like the chunks of it. But I have my trick." I took out two vials of ground ice dust and poured them over the bucket of snow. A flex of my ice affinity blended the snow and dust together quickly, as though in a blender. It gave the snow little sprinkles of blue throughout.

I made a hollow cone of solid ice in my hand and put it in the bucket, packing snow into it with my other hand. I took it out and poured some blueberry syrup on it and handed it to Esdeath as I began making my own, lemon flavored. She looked at it curiously and cautiously took a bite of it.

"Hm? This is good… what?" She looked at the cone in interest.

"That's the dust, the stuff I sprinkled over the snow, " I explained. "If you push a burst of magic into it it explodes. Well it also explodes if you hit it too hard but with little grains like I used it takes a lot of force to explode or a tiny bit of magical power. With your ice demon blood it's delicious for you because of some magical theory I'm not going to explain in detail right now. To put it simply the magical ice power in the snow cone appeals to your ice powers."

"Mmm… this is delicious," she purred. Her cheeks were a little red. The ice affinity in the dust was basically massaging her ice affinity, stimulating it through the mate effect, where a strong dose of pure affinity sent the soul into overdrive and tried to reproduce, naturally with a soul of strong matching affinity. A little dust of below average quality like what I used wasn't nearly enough to trigger that effect, though. Especially not when dispersed through snow. Dust was more compact so it dissolved into affinity a little slowly. At most having all the dust in the bucket might mildly turn Esdeath on if she took all of it at once. As it was the dust was a pleasant tingle to her soul, just like it was to mine.

"So… you mentioned romantic troubles," Esdeath said leadingly. I sighed. I didn't really want to talk about that but I didn't think I had any solid reason to refuse her.

"Problems, yeah, but it's… complicated." I glimpsed the cooks leaving the two of us, taking the dishes with them. I nodded to them and the last one out, who was closing the door, gave me a thumbs up for some reason.

"Would you explain them to me?" she asked. I shrugged.

"I've been dating Kuroka for a few months now. We had a casual relationship for months before that but it was just sex to both of us, though she kind of liked me emotionally but was okay not pursuing it. Then I got struck down hard, something I don't want to talk about right now, and she helped me get back on my feet. We started dating because I needed somebody and she was surprisingly more reliable than I thought she was. So we continued like that for a few months.

"Now I lost a lot when I was… struck down. I don't think I'm over it now and it's going to haunt me for a long time to come. One of the people helping me with that was a friend of mine named Ophis. I thought of her as a friend and not much more, but pretty recently she helped me deal with some of my emotional issues, something I didn't think she could actually do. To make a long story short, we got together. While I was with Kuroka."

"I didn't think you were that kind of man." Esdeath looked at me with disappointment.

"Oh, Kuroka has been telling me to get multiple lovers for ages."

"… What?" she asked flatly.

"I don't get it either. Well, I know she wants other women to… 'play' with, which I'm fine with since I know she cares for me deeply, but she wants me to get other lovers for some reason. Maybe she thinks she's not enough for me? To reiterate, I don't know. Oh, and polygamy is pretty common in her world so that likely has something to do with it. So she knew I got together with Ophis, who I hadn't had any romantic feelings towards before. But it was really sudden. Looking back on it Ophis has been really attached to me but I didn't know it was romantic at all until five days ago. I care for her a lot and changing that to mutual love is a surprisingly easy process. What kept me for five days was working out what we as a trio of lovers rather than a duo were going to do.

"Thankfully Kuroka and Ophis haven't clashed at all. I don't get it. There's no jealousy or competitiveness between them. I know I'd get jealous and angry if Kuroka or Ophis slept with another man but they're just… fine with it. It just clicked between them. I called on some of my minions to get a bigger house and the three of us spent a lot of time together putting our own touches into it. I didn't want to leave because I didn't know how we were going to… work. I had to put everything on hold while I was puzzling out how everything worked between us. Now it seems like I'm leading the relationship and they're having no issues and I have no idea why. Shouldn't there be problems to solve? Are they glaring at each other when I'm not looking? It worries me, but I can't see anything going wrong at all."

Esdeath stared at me with her mouth a little open, her snow cone forgotten in her hands. When I looked at her she closed it and blushed. "Your life it… much more complicated than I thought," she admitted. "Do you see any problems, though?"

"As I said, no." I took a bite of my snow cone.

"Then don't go looking for any," she said simply. "Don't look away from them and if they have a problem try to solve it. Even if you don't do so the effort will appeal to them. As the saying goes, 'If it isn't broken don't fix it'. You're having no problems and your relationship isn't even slightly broken. It sounds like you… have a strong base for a polygamous relationship?" She looked at me quizzically.

"Thank you for not calling it a harem."

"… Are you socially dominant in the group?"

"…"

"Whose word has the most value between you three?"

"… Mine."

"Do you see the issue here?" she asked, amused.

"I don't like to call it a harem," I grumbled, taking a sullen bite of my snow cone. "I feel like it makes the others seem less important. I don't want anybody to think I like them just because of sex or that their word is worth less than mine when it comes to our relationship."

"When it comes to your relationship?" she asked. She had a little moustache of blueberry syrup now. I kept a smile away with difficulty and tried not to look at it.

"Ophis is magnitudes stronger than me," I said casually. Esdeath froze in the middle of another bite before she continued and gave me a slightly disbelieving look. "She's about the second or fourth strongest being in her reality, actually. She can travel to other realities too but doesn't do so often. She's universally feared but in reality she's really quiet and a bit naive despite being countlessyears old. I think it's because she spent most of her time in the void between dimensions. Too much magical activity gives her a headache, you see."

"I'm having a hard time picturing something stronger than you," Esdeath muttered.

"That's because this world is a small pond in an infinite world full of ponds, not to mention the oceans." She nodded and tipped her snowcone back, finishing it off. Mine was only half gone but I was done anyways so I tossed it in a portal leading a few miles away in the middle of nowhere. Esdeath tossed her cone of ice, which was stained with blueberry syrup, into the portal as well.

"I'm going back to the capital tomorrow," she said to me a little suddenly. "I'll be flying my dragon-"

"You have a dragon?!"

"Yes, now, I'll be flying my dragon back and I'd like for you to accompany me into the throne room as I make my report. I'll be doing as you've asked and finishing my business in this world. The Emperor is surely going to offer me a boon for my conquest, he does so every time I do so, and I will ask to retire and leave my armies to General Budo, who manages the defense of the Empire rather than the offense as I do. However, I will offer to eliminate Night Raid before I leave. I was going to do so in the first place. I'll form a temporary squad and lead them against the organization, destroying them of course, and then I'll leave. Beyond my duties to the Empire and a personal grudge against the leader of Night Raid, I have nothing left to accomplish."

"So those assassins in Night Raid are all that you really have to deal with, huh?"

"Yes." I smiled and nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Esdeath smiled at me.

"Goodbye, Abyss. Tonight was… fun," She leaned forward a little bit for some reason, but hesitated and turned around, walking away towards her bed. "Now would you please get out of my room? It's getting quite late."

I disappeared home to see Kuroka and Ophis playing my games, specifically LEGO Star Wars.

"Hey! Abyss! Come on, we need a player three!" I happily obliged, smiling all the while when they snuggled up on me as we played.

**AN: Writing soft, tender lemons is, well… boring. I tried it. I didn't really like it. Lemons are porn, not… poetry with nudity. Still, that's seven pages of smutty goodness right there. **

**Enjoy, you all. I'm up for criticism on this. It's the first time I've written lemons so I have a ways to go to be a proficient smut writer… not that that's something I aspire to be but I like writing. I may as well have another form of writing under my belt. And I, too, like reading lemons. Writing them is actually pretty fun, though I clearly need to learn how to write the softer stuff. I'll work on it in the next update with a lemon. **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Long chapters are long. I did advance the plot a lot, though. Next chapter will be a timeskip. We might get to the next world then or the chapter after. **

**Sorry for being late. Schedules are the bane of me. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 10**= ||||]

Hogwarts felt foreboding from a distance. It stood as a massive castle on a hill, a place where I'd made a huge mistake. I didn't want to do this but I couldn't just up and leave… well I could, but I wouldn't. Ignoring my mistakes was a slippery slope. I didn't want to go down it. Running away from one problem just made me less able to solve the next one and left a regret in my wake. No, it was best to own up and apologize.

It was with this in mind that I walked into Helen's domain. She noticed me instantly, of course, and I was met with a neutral feeling. She wanted to hear what I had to say.

"I'm sorry, and I'll be telling this to Hermione and Harry later as well. I messed up and lost sight of what was important. I could have handled Harry's problems in so many better ways. It would have been as simple as asking him how I could help, but instead I tried to focus on what I thought was the problem and… well, you saw what happened. I traumatized her, Helen. It could have been worse but it should have been better. _I_ should have been better." Helen was unresponsive for a moment. Then her soul reached out to me and seemed to hug me.

"_I forgive you… they will too," _she whispered to me. 

"Thank you," I said gratefully. Helen opened a stairwell beside me and I was about to step down when I hesitated. "Does that lead straight to Harry? I'd rather not apologize in public. It was between Hermione and me more than any bystanders. I might publicly apologize later, though."

Helen sent an image of two lone stick figures and I nodded, feeling that Hermioone and somebody else was as good as it was going to get for me, and descended the stairs. I walked down for a few minutes and summoned a globe of light when the passage above me closed up. I finally came to a trapdoor that I knelt at and pulled open. Down below me Harry and Hermione separated their faces and looked up at me in horror and surprise.

"Um… should I come back later?" I asked awkwardly. "I'm here to apologize but… well you two seem to have a mood going."

Harry groaned and put his blushing face in his hands while Hermione wiped her lips. "Just… just get down here. Please." I dropped down from the trapdoor, closing it on my way down, and glanced back up when I hit the ground. It was under an illusion. Helen, you have so many secrets.

"So as I said, I'm here to apologize," I said while looking around. I had no idea where we were. It looked like a cabin of some sort. There was a small neat bed, which Harry and Hermione were sitting on, but around us there was a round table and chairs, a lit fireplace, and a small bookshelf. Behind the bed was a window looking out over the Hogwarts grounds. I could see the dessicated willow tree from the window, actually. I think it was the Weeping Willow? No, wait, it was Whomping Willow.

I decided not to pull a chair away from the round table since they were kind of short for me and instead stood before the two teenagers. "I messed up last… whatever day that was. Five days ago at any rate. I knew how I had pushed you away from your friends, Harry, when I let slip that you were studying nonverbal and wandless magic. I looked at that issue, never heard about a resolution, and decided to fix it myself when I saw the opportunity."

"It was, and frankly still is, my hope that getting you, Hermione, more in touch with your magic to the point that wandless magic was easily accessible would push you two back together. Friends are important, I know, and I've found that the best way to handle power driving people apart is to mend that gap a little or showing how it doesn't matter so much. So I tried to mend that power-gap, but I was shortsighted. I ignored the consequences and in doing so made a… grave error. As a mentor and decent person I failed when I forced your magic to lash out, no matter that I didn't mean what I said. I still said those things and I regret it. So I'm sorry."

Hermione and Harry were silent. They looked between each other and had a silent conversation before they looked back at me. "Thank you for showing me wandless magic. It's helped me tremendously," Hermione said kindly. I raised an eyebrow, not having expected that.

"Um, you're welcome?" I said a little awkwardly.

"It was horrible," she said plainly. "The things you said… you were horrible. But I can see your reasoning, flawed as it was. In the long run, I'll be thanking you but for now… I would prefer if we didn't…"

"I'd be more than happy to put this whole thing behind me," I agreed in relief. "Frankly, I'm considering just leaving this whole tournament thing behind. There's no consequences for me leaving. I'm not interested in the ball whatsoever and Helen's more than capable enough to stop all the bribery and foul play that happens behind the scenes. I was being moderator because I had too much free time, but at this point… well there's no reason to continue moderating because everyone's safe under her watch and you're easily one of the most powerful students in Hogwarts. On top of that, you've actually gotten in the habit of self-improvement, which will bring you far in life if you can keep it up."

"Oh good," Harry breathed.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he apologized quickly. "I just… I'm dating Hermione."

"When's the wedding?" I quipped. The two blushed again. "Dust you two are such virgins. Just get things over with already."

"V-no! You can't just-!" Hermione stammered.

"This is why I avoid kids!" I proclaimed. "You all just stumble around things like romance! Even my sister, when she was your age, could at least talk about sex with a straight face! Does Hogwarts not have a sex-ed class?!" Their silence was telling.

"Oh… hm, you know now that I'm not moderating the tournament-"

"I will hex you so hard."

"I'll tell Dumbledore you're Voldemort in disguise."

I laughed at the two as they threatened me at the same time and the mood lightened. I got myself under control again and looked at the two seriously again. "Alright, that was nice but we've got some serious things to talk about. You two can go back to smashing your faces together after this, but it's something you need to hear." I looked to Harry.

"You haven't gotten that little bit of Voldemort in your scar out, have you?" Harry's face darkened. "Have you even done anything about it? You know what, nevermind. Don't move." I reached out and put my middle and index finger on his scar. My aura reached out and wrapped around his. He gasped and tried to move away but I grabbed his shoulder and concentrated so I didn't accidentally awaken his aura.

I gently pierced his soul and sent out probes, looking for abnormalities. I saw a little tear in his soul where mana was leaking, but that was probably natural. What was _not_ natural was a little blob of inky black in Harry's light green aura. I reached for it but it moved quickly away from my probes.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse where I tried to reach for the blob of darkness and it fled from me just as quickly. It was small enough that it could easily move without breaking his soul apart. I could not and I knew that if I broke the barrier around his soul he would need an infusion of aura as his soul adapted. Otherwise his soul would destabilize and he'd be crippled, having a weak aura that, if it ran out, would tear his soul apart due to rips from an improper activation. There had been some studies about it in Remnant. It was a medical error of the worst kind, a death sentence.

After maybe five minutes of using all my parallels to weave probes around the blob, I managed to snag it. It squirmed and wriggled but my soul was much, much, MUCH stronger than it. I absorbed it into me and drew out of Harry. I simply flexed my void affinity and the soul I had dragged out died an instant death.

"There you are. All gone," I said, satisfied.

"I feel… clean," Harry said, looking lightheaded.

"I'll let you in on a little secret. My skills, the really unique ones? It's called essomancy, magic deeply related to the soul. I study it, learn how magic functions in relation to it, and see how I can use what I learn. Every time I find something new I learn a little bit more. The problem is, essomancy is illegal in magical Britain and the US. Look it up. Everyone says it leads to horcruxes and dark wizardry. They're all wrong, of course. But I feel like you should know. Find something you're passionate about and hone it. That's how you get strong. Passion, work, and time."

"You're a… dark wizard?" Hermione asked, confused.

"People can call me whatever they want. Dark wizard, murderer, hero, archwizard, or Abyss. I'm just a wizard with a girlfriend who misses his family. People are just people. Don't depend on labels like dark. Draco, for example? He's a racist ass, but there are worse people you could be friends with. I think if you tried you could bridge your differences. I'll bet that you'll be friends when you all grow up a bit."

Harry nodded. "Was that it?"

"Not even close," I said cheerfully. "Ask Dumbledore about Tom Riddle, the Deathly Hallows, the Order of the Phoenix, and the prophecy if you haven't heard it. Tom Marvolo Riddle had seven horcruxes. The diary, Ravenclaw's diadem, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's chalice, his pet snake Nagini, you, and one more I can't remember. Dumbledore knows I think. It might have been Quarrel. I can't really recall. Use basilisk venom from the chamber to destroy them. I don't know all the details, sorry. I deal in bigger fish than Voldemort."

"That's fine. You've been a tremendous help," Harry said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know. You'd still be fretting about the tournament and waving a stick around," I said shamelessly. Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione snickered, snapping her fingers softly and causing sparks to fly out. I mimicked her but with a puff of fire.

"Goodbye, Mister Granite," Harry said fondly.

"Oh, it's Abyss Mavros. Granite was just something I used in case anybody was looking for me when I first met you all. I was playing hookie for my friend, so to speak," I said with a smirk.

"Mavros? Black on black… wizards," Hermione muttered.

"Wizards are the height of ingenuity, thank you very much. That's why we have wagons and the muggles are still riding horses," I said with sarcasm. My joke caused Hermione to smile weakly. "And before I leave, how'd you two get together anyways?" Hermione blushed.

"I was the only person who could find Hermione. I hugged her and she explained what happened and she, um…" Harry's blush was telling.

"Ripped her clothes off and said 'take me now, Harry'. Got it."

"No!" Hermione protested.

"I thought you were screaming yes?" I said mischievously. The kids became tomatoes.

"Just… go." Harry groaned.

"Now that's how you make an exit! Helen, if you please." The trapdoor opened above me and I paused. "Actually, thank you Helen but I think I might hit my head up there if I jumped too high and I don't want to get up halfway and have to scurry upwards so…" I walked out the door like a normal person and smirked at the sighs behind me at my antics.

Now that was how you made an exit.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"But… I wanna ride the dragon!" I did not whine as Esdeath stood with one hand on her hips sassily.

"Dragon rides are long, windy, and uncomfortable," she said patiently.

"Dragons are the coolest kind of danger beast without question. There's not much scarier than a giant fire breathing lizard besides perhaps the person who hunts them. But on a more important note, I've never ridden a dragon before!"

"How sad," she said sarcastically, blushing a tiny bit. "Now open a portal."

"Shouldn't we land so people know we're there? Like how nobles have fancy carriages, you have a dragon?" Esdeath pouted.

"I was banned from doing that by Honest," she muttered in discontent.

"Ah, yes, but he can't stop us if we ride the dragon together!"

"…"

"You're retiring anyways," I continued to tempt her. She looked like she was an inch away from accepting. "I'll let you pet my ears," I bargained, prepared to make sacrifices in the name of dragon riding.

"Done," she said instantly.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"That was… you were right," I said sullenly. The wind really was too loud on top of the dragon. I used my storm affinity to stop it from being so loud so we could talk, but the scales were also pretty uncomfortable. Horses on their own were uncomfortable, but dragons? With the wing muscles beating under you, making your seat shift whenever you got even a little comfortable? Riding barebacked on it was idiotic if you were looking for comfort but with a saddle and a wind blocker it might be tolerable.

I gave up after five minutes of riding because of the discomfort and we landed so I could open a portal, though Esdeath reminded me that I owed her my head for scratches. Also, my hands kept rising up towards Esdeath's breasts when the dragon bumped up and down with it's wingbeats. I couldn't ride in front, after all. It was Esdeath's dragon, and not holding onto her made me feel unbalanced. Luckily she either didn't mind or understood my plight since she didn't comment on it.

The two of us rode into the inner district on a carriage Esdeath had requisitioned from a garrison we stopped by. A soldier in fancy armor sat proudly at the front, though I could tell that he was nervous with the General in the back.

"So they have to, what, make an audience? Are military matters so public?" I asked.

"The nobles like their shows and I'm the latest gossip more often than not. Normally this wouldn't be done but this campaign was cleaner than normal and rather quickly wrapped up. It's probably going to be called a great accomplishment or something. It's all show."

"Do we have to wait for them to assemble, then?"

"Sadly, yes. It will take a few hours before we publicly present in the throne room. Perhaps three. Schedules will be cleared, business will be put on hold, and an egregious amount of wine will be given out."

"Oh… so do we just… sit down and do nothing?"

"Normally yes. I tend to watch the soldiers and guardsmen spar with each other to pass the time, but thankfully there are other things we can do."

"We… oh. Portals."

"Hm. I'd like to meet your h-girlfriends."

"It's not a harem."

"Of course." The two of us were silent as the carriage wheeled down the bumpy road. I just closed my eyes and rested while Esdeath took out that journal of hers again and did something with it. I cracked an eye when the carriage lurched a little, signaling a stop, and didn't move again after a minute.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We have to go through the line," Esdeath said unconcernedly, still doing something in the journal.

"Ugh. Can't we use the staff entrance? They just go straight through. That's how I first planned to infiltrate the palace last time."

"No. Everybody goes through this one." I sighed and we were silent for another moment.

"So what are you doing?"

"I'm… writing down thoughts." She was lying and blushing.

"Hm? What thoughts?" I decided to torment her a little before I let her go off the hook.

"Um, ah, a… a spearhead formation at the back end of the northern capital would have…" She trailed off.

"Uh-huh," I said in amusement. "So besides your thoughts, what is that you're sketching?" I pointed at the book, which had been lowered while she thought of lies. I had expected much better lies from somebody active in politics.

"Nothing!" The book flipped upwards and was pressed against her chest as her blush only grew.

"Sure." I smirked. I didn't tell her that I had seen what she was sketching, specifically me asleep, one of my ears out and the other flattened so I could rest my head against the wall. She had changed a few things, pointedly that my mouth was closed while I rested and she drew it open, and myself more relaxed as though I were actually asleep rather than just resting. At least I satisfied my curiosity about what she was working on in that journal. Who was I to judge if she liked to sketch?

I waited until we were inside and the driver stopped to open my eyes and get out, Esdeath following right after me, flipping a silver coin to the driver. "Go inform Honest's steward Candid that I'm here and to send a servant to fetch me from my room when the nobles have assembled."

"Yes, ma'am!" The driver saluted her and walked quickly away from us.

"There," Esdeath said, satisfied. "Now would you prefer to make a portal or walk to my room and spread all sorts of rumors?" I growled, which just made her chuckle, and opened a portal to her room. She stepped through first for once and I followed. Then she started stripping.

"Aaand what are you doing?" I asked.

"Changing into something more comfortable," she said, tossing her coat onto the bed and looking through her standing wardrobe for something in just her undergarments.

"Right. I'll just close my eyes again, then. For your innocence." I did so and leaned against the wall.

"I am a lady, Abyss. Not a prude."

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if prudish women are a myth. I don't seem to know any. Wait, I know Helen and Hermione. And my sister. Maybe I just don't associate with prudes often, I should say."

"Then you're a lucky man. I assume your girlfriends have no sense of modesty as well?" I heard a zipping sound.

"This morning Kuroka insisted I made breakfast naked so they could get a show. Ophis agreed. I complained, though I wasn't really mad, and they did a stripshow; for every ingredient I added they took a clothing item off. You can guess what happened next."

"I hope they're not pregnant."

"I haven't checked recently, but Kuroka's been asking for awhile and Ophis said she's interested. Oh, but as for the food thing I wasn't done cooking when they finished so they did other things."

"You do realize that to talk about your romance with your girlfriends with a woman changing shows that you have no modesty as well? And I'm done."

"I just have less than most people. I'm still respectful enough to stop myself if they get annoyed or too uncomfortable. I get that there's a time and place, though. I wouldn't talk about this in front of your boss, for example." While I talked I inspected Esdeath's clothing. She had, of all things, a dark blue leather button jacket on over a white shirt and black pants. Besides that her hair wasn't loose but had a little band around it near her head. It made it all bunch together more as it fell down her back.

"You look surprisingly… modern. Huh. I didn't realize people had jackets like that in this world."

"Few people dress this way because they aren't rich enough to, and those rich enough to are typically nobles who consider this to be for peasants pretending to be nobles, as with the leather instead of, say silk. These clothes are popular amongst merchants, however." Esdeath ran a hand over the coat fondly. I supposed she didn't get to wear the clothes often since she was always wearing her military uniform outside.

I shrugged and made a portal through void. I walked into my manor and Esdeath came right after me. "Oh? This is nice," she said in interest. I pulled out my phone, which was sadly inferior to my scroll from Remnant - if only it could pick up cell signals, and texted Kuroka.

'_Esdeath and I are at home. The nobles have to assemble and get drunk before she tells everyone about how she won the north. Care to come?'_

I pocketed my phone for now and cleared my throat. "Ophis?" A moment passed and I heard footsteps from downstairs. "She's downstairs," I told Esdeath.

"I can hear well too, you know? Not everyone needs an extra pair of ears," she replied. Just then the door opened and Ophis stepped out with sleepy eyes, thankfully dressed.

"Oh, you must be Esdeath. Kuroka and Abyss have talked about you." She looked Esdeath up and down. "She's as good looking as you said," she told me.

"You think I'm pretty?" Esdeath asked me happily.

"Of course you are. Very pretty, actually, and I refuse to believe that you ever thought you weren't."

"Oh my, you've caught me. So, Ophis, Abyss mentioned you were stronger than him?" I rolled my eyes. Of course that would be the first thing out of her mouth when she met Ophis.

"No," Ophis said simply.

"Yes, you are," I disagreed.

"Without you to provide void I would be miserable and everything would be loud. I am dependant on you," she pointed out.

"You can destroy countries with a swat of your hand."

"I can't make a decent dinner." Esdeath snorted and we looked to her.

"No dinner is decent after Abyss'," she explained.

"Oh. You're hooked." Ophis nodded like what she said made perfect sense.

"My cooking isn't addictive," I complained. Just then my phone buzzed and I pulled it out while the two continued talking.

'_OMG! Dnt mve b thr in 2mins!' _

"Kuroka should be here in a few minutes," I told the two.

"Oh good," Esdeath said with a small smile.

"You should make a snack to welcome her."

"I should make a full course meal to repay me for everything you've eaten, lazy dragon." Ophis sniffed indignantly at me and I heard a crash from the empty room I had designated for people to teleport to.

"I'M HERE!" A familiar voice yelled. Kuroka ran down the hall and skidded to a stop at the end of the hall. I realized she smelled a little smoky and her clothes looked a little singed as well as stained with blood in a few places, though she was uninjured. She looked to us and particularly Esdeath. "Hi! I'm Kuroka!"

"Hello," Esdeath said, looking slightly uncomfortable. I was able to see the oncoming awkwardness and quickly thought of a solution.

"So why are your clothes burned?" I asked Kuroka.

"Um, I was fighting when you texted."

"You looked at a text in the middle of a fight?!"

"The guys were just a bunch of wimpy magicians! This was four fireballs that hit me and I'm totally fine!" I shook my head at her carelessness.

"Did you try getting close? Magic based enemies are usually easy to deal with in close combat," Esdeath recommended. Kuroka pouted.

"There were like two hundred of the guys! Yeah they were weak but they can fly and they just throw stuff at you! Seriously, ice, water blades, fireballs, lightning bolts, and like twenty other types of projectiles! I mean, I can fly too but I suck at it."

"Do I need to learn how to fly now too?" Esdeath wondered out loud. 

"Oh definitely. Under your own power, that is," I confirmed for her. She grimaced at the idea of another goal to work towards. "So do you want to have another spar? You're in another world, after all." Her grimace shifted to an eager grin.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Ophis was half asleep on my lap but I was at attention watching Esdeath and Kuroka dash around the courtyard, mostly on the defensive. She was playing hit and run, warping space to dodge Esdeath's attacks and occasionally blinking when she had to. Once she had used a portal but I knew that she was awful at making portals on the fly. It nearly collapsed after sending an icicle back at Esdeath and didn't do anything anyways. Esdeath just caught it and threw it again.

Esdeath was on the offensive, launching icicles at high speeds and altering the battlefield, a medium sized field on the manors property, to include a slippery icy ground and a few barriers she used from time to time.

Both of them were holding back, though Esdeath much more so than Kuroka, so I kept waiting for them to start trying and stop feeling each other out. Neither of them were using that much from their bag of tricks, only using the obvious attacks. Esdeath hadn't even done her new ice-walking technique yet.

"Stop sandbagging!" I called to them. The two paused their 'battle' for a moment.

"Ah, fiiine!" Kuroka rolled her eyes. She was still for a moment and swept her hand out. Magic circles appeared around the battlefield that instantly had Esdeath jumping away from them. A thick purple fog spewed out of them and she changed her ice to a cold vapor, probably trying to dilute it.

"Poisonous?" Esdeath asked.

"Oh it would paralyse you in a few breaths," Kuroka said cheerfully. Esdeath frowned and tensed as though to rush Kuroka. Suddenly a snowstorm came from nowhere. Icy flew around the battlefield, buffeting the two, though Esdeath was obviously unaffected.

Kuroka, for once, braced to meet her and glowed with touki, though she was off balance from the snowstorm that Esdeath was quickly concentrating on her. Esdeath's rapier stabbed towards her quickly, though Kuroka was quick enough to dodge them, a purple glow over her skin. She stepped forwards to close some distance but Esdeath just stepped back and continued her strikes. Kuroka couldn't move fast enough with the icy floor anyways. Then I noticed a lot of frost on Kuroka's kimono. Oh, that was bad. I knew from experience.

Kuroka, sadly, didn't notice the frost or it's implications and continued trying to get close to Esdeath. She was leading her by the nose, slowly growing the frost on her clothes while keeping some distance. Though she didn't know it, touki kept Kuroka resistant to low and high temperatures. It was why huntresses could go into Atlas in a bikini and why she was going to have her ass handed to her.

Apparently tiring of the song and dance, or just wanting to show off, Esdeath swept her rapier diagonally and a spear of ice larger than Kuroka sprang from the ground beneath her. She bent flexibly and crouched down on the ground, instantly on guard. Esdeath hadn't done any major ice manipulation (It was called gelumancy) before, though the field being covered by ice might have been telling, the same going for the barrier.

And it was lucky that she was on her guard. Esdeath began upping the stakes, larger and more intricate formations of ice all vying to attack Kuroka. Spears to stab her, rope like vines from the ground trying to grab her feet, walls blocking her movement, and the thick snowstorm making sure she could barely see two feet in front of her. It also restricted my vision of the fight so I tapped into Esdeath's ice structures and felt through them. She probably noticed something was off but kept fighting.

Kuroka had to feel out the space around her through her space affinity, which she was poor at, and it made her clumsy and slow to dodge. She ended up with a few nasty wounds and what was probably a twisted ankle after yanking it out of an icy vine.

Esdeath finally took pity on her. The artificial snowstorm died down in an instant and the icy structures melted into the ground, leaving the field a bare sheet of ice.

"We're done," Esdeath said, looking at a tired Kuroka with some light wounds on her, though she still stood defiant. She raised her left hand and gripped it. The frost on Kuroka's robe thickened and ice spread over her skin. Kuroka tried to strip her robe but it took barely a moment for the ice to spread over her skin and thicken.

More aura/touki was used to strengthen her and break the ice, Kuroka tearing it off her in chunks, so Esdeath upped her game again and the ice covered nearly all her body, restraining her in an instant. Kuroka flexed with all her might and the thick shell of ice fractured but with Esdeath thickening it and compressing it with every moment it was a losing battle.

"Fine! I lose, nya!" Kuroka pouted in frustration, all of her lower body encased in a solid shell of ice that shining purple with the light of her aura. Only her upper torso was free.

"You're persistent, though clearly not meant for direct combat," Esdeath acknowledged. The ice around Kuroka melted off Kuroka like water, hardening as soon as it hit the ground. She stepped out and rubbed the red, irritated areas where tearing the ice off her had also stripped her hair or torn her skin.

"I use curses, nya." She raised her right hand and a little purple ball of smoke formed and shot away from her quickly, just a little faster than Esdeath's icicles. "People get sick, slowed, harmed, or just, you know, die. But mostly it's a lot of little things that weaken people. I'm quick because I'm really good at avoiding people and wearing them down. The hand-to-hand combat is a backup of mine."

"Then why didn't you use any of these curses on me?"

"Because they wouldn't have hit you. You're too fast and you make ice too quickly. My curses don't work on things like ice," she said sullenly.

"I see," Esdeath said, sounding interested. "You harry your opponents, making them easier for your allies to kill. However, when fighting alone you aren't particularly dangerous if your enemy is able to block your curses."

"My youjutsu curses are the core of my fighting! That misty one was the only gaseous curse I had. It would only have paralysed you, though, nya."

"Then you are an able fighter," Esdeath congratulated her, smiling with a hand on her shoulder. "I'd be proud to have you in my service, were you a part of my world." Kuroka looked mollified and maybe even a little proud. Esdeath was pretty inspirational when she wanted to be. It took more than strength to lead an army, after all.

"You're super strong, too!" Kuroka said, getting into the compliments. "You're super flexible with how you used your ice! How did you even see through that snowstorm?! And how can you do so much with just ice?!" Esdeath blushed in embarrassment.

"All I did was throw ice at you and cause a snowstorm," she muttered.

"You can do more?!"

"Ophis!" Esdeath called out, avoiding the question deftly. "Would you care to spar?" I snorted, barely holding in laughter since that would mess up Ophis' nap. She cracked an eye and tilted her head to look up at me.

"Clean up all the ice on the field first. No need to get up," I softly told her, my voice still amused from Esdeath's challenge. Ophis nodded sleepily and I saw the ice of the field simply start disappearing.

"What?!" Esdeath looked in bafflement as the ice disappeared. She narrowed her eyes and visibly focused but after two seconds the ice disappeared entirely. She buckled down and focused harder on the ground, her brow scrunched up from concentration.

"You're stopping the ice from forming?" I asked. Ophis' head bobbed a little. "Stop doing it all of a sudden." In an instant a huge wall of ice sprang up almost a hundred feet in the air. Kuroka and Esdeath were thrown into the air from the force of the ice and the monolith kept rising, though it petered out after a moment. I scoffed at the ice and waited a moment.

Kuroka landed on the ground gracefully, barely making a sound despite how long the fall she just had was. Esdeath made a slope of ice at the corner of the monolith that she slid down, skidding her feet on the dirt and her hair a bit of a mess from the fall.

"Now get rid of it, would you?" Ophis didn't do anything but the giant mass of ice shrunk down quickly. Esdeath and Kuroka watched as it disappeared to nothingness in a moment.

"I… point taken," Esdeath said, looking annoyed. She glared briefly at Ophis but looked away as soon as she opened her eyes a tiny bit.

"Great. So, anybody interested in some games now that we've…" I trailed off as I realized the pun I was about to make.

"Broken the ice?" Kuroka took over for me with glee.

"I was specifically trying NOT to say that," I said in exasperation.

"What sort of games do you have?" Esdeath asked, curious. I grinned, already having one in mind.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"No! Stop it!" Kuroka cried on my right past Esdeath, getting absolutely destroyed.

"These 'rifles' you have are wonderful tools of warfare. Do you have armies equipped with them? They are far more diverse and powerful than the few firearms the Empire has." Esdeath reloaded her sniper happily, hiding behind a wall, stopping me from shooting her with my own rifle.

"Oh yeah. You don't even need magic to use them. A lot of people without magic have used them for hundreds of years," I affirmed. Ophis tried to sneak up behind me and I managed a headshot. She didn't seem to care, not moving at all from my left side, where she was leaning on me. Shooters weren't really her thing.

"Do you think I might have one?"

"What, for recreation?"

"They seem fun."

"They are fun," I agreed. "I'm alright with most of them but I prefer assault rifles."

"I would like one of these snipers." Her statement was punctuated with another headshot on Kuroka, who wailed pitifully. We all ignored her.

"They're a lot more complicated than they are in the game," I warned her. I felt a deep satisfaction as I managed to kill her avatar, barely surviving a body shot.

"That's no issue. I will have quite a bit of free time after I leave the Empire." I noticed how she changed classes to try out a shotgun, probably aiming to try all the guns and determine which one she liked the most.

"Oh yeah, you're some sort of General, right?" Kuroka asked, deciding to stop being dramatic as she was repeatedly killed to feed our scores. The only real players were Esdeath and I, her being a natural and myself being far more experienced. I was barely winning for now.

"I'm in charge of the offensive armies of the Empire. I lead invasions and campaigns to conquer other nations. I control three armies and a navy. The only forces I do not control are in the command of Grand General Budo, who is tasked with the defense of the Empire's capital and the royal family, though that's just the Emperor right now," she said proudly.

"Whoah, how big is this empire, exactly?"

"I can't properly say. It takes up perhaps half of the continent of Sansus?" She sounded uncertain, though she smirked a bit as she shot Ophis with her new shotgun. It didn't kill her and Ophis shot her down, after which she quickly changed classes again.

"It's about three thousand miles across and two thousand-ish north to south, though it's shaped a bit oddly and has a colony across the sea, I've heard. It might be a bit bigger. It's super big, in any case, though it's also a bit undeveloped in places," I said, having done a little studying myself on the Empire.

"How big is that in comparison to…"

"America is two thousand five hundred miles across, roughly, maybe more like two thousand eight hundred. The empire is a bit bigger all around."

"It's a bit larger in the north now that I've taken the north," Esdeath said.

"The north was about three hundred miles by two hundred. It's an increase for sure, though not a useful one. It's all ice up there. Maybe a few trading companies will set up a whale hunting business or a fur trade will take off but not much is going to happen with the territory. It's only got one city, anyways, and not a very big one."

"Nyaa, so it's super big and rich?"

"Oh, not in the slightest." Esdeath laughed lightly.

"It's a huge dystopia. The only reason it's so big is because Esdeath loves to fight and the Prime Minister keeps pointing her at everything. If it wasn't for her the Empire would probably be in a horrible recession and might have fallen to rebellion already."

"The rebellions happen every year or two," Esdeath commented.

"Oh… that sounds kinda awful, then." Kuroka seemed disappointed.

"It's absolutely awful," I agreed. "Unless you love fighting like Esdeath or you're deeply seated in power like the Prime Minister and his nobility. There's actually a large scale rebellion gearing up in the west under the backing of a coalition of western states who've banded together under fear of Esdeath and the Empire's armies. The country's about five minutes away from civil war and my money's on the rebels unless Esdeath really goes all out."

"Aw, thank you," the devil herself said sweetly. This was punctuated by her killing Kuroka again and a sigh of surrender from her. She had accepted her fate as last on the leaderboards.

"So it's a horrible oppressive Empire that would topple without Esdeath serving the Empire because…" Kuroka looked quizzically at Esdeath.

"I enjoy fighting. The Empire provides conflict for me to enjoy and lets me do as I please with the backing of its armies so long as I hand conquered territories and the spoils of war to it," she explained.

"You serve them because you just like to fight?!"

"Yes," she confirmed. Kuroka considered this for a moment.

"Battle junkies," she muttered. I was thankful that she hadn't asked about the civilians trying to rebel that Esdeath had killed to feed her bloodlust, her hobby of torturing others, or the atrocities the nobles committed every day, though a few of them had been busted by the authorities somehow despite their obvious corruption. Esdeath's doing, I was sure. Night Raid just killed the corrupt.

Then again, Kuroka had been born into a society where people with interesting powers were actively enslaved under the evil piece system, though not everybody used the system that way, like the Gremory family or the Sitris. But for every good devil in the underworld with a peerage there were three that enjoyed the benefits of their peerage being subservient to them. Despite being a kind person she was no innocent little snowflake, not since childhood and certainly not now, where she was a wanted terrorist.

"Gotcha!" I smirked and Esdeath growled as I got her one last time just before the match ended. The score read forty three kills for me and thirty nine for her. Then there was Ophis with eleven kills and Kuroka with four.

"Can we play a different game?" Kuroka asked as she looked at her score in disappointment.

"Just one more round? I'd like to try out these LMG's. They seem interesting," Esdeath asked. Kuroka looked at me but I didn't say anything, looking down at Ophis and giving her pets, to her obvious happiness. She looked between Esdeath and the screen a few times.

"Okay," she muttered in agreement. "But let's change the map first."

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Here." I handed a small slip of paper to the fat man in the chair. He sported a long grey beard, sharp dark yellow eyes, and a grey coat with some fur around the neck. I noted that there was a little sauce from some sort of food in it.

"Why thank you!" he said with a genial grin, not questioning what the slip of paper was. He took a quick bite of some sort of grilled meat from a plate beside him. "You're the young man that Esdeath has taken under her wing, yes?"

"I'm more of a friend of hers. I'm apparently quite interesting to her." I didn't want to mention that I was as powerful as her, even when I was only using my space magic in the teigu-verse for actual combat. I had let some little things like the ice cones slip since they were just little bits of usefulness.

"Ohoho! Well be careful, young man, she might just eat you right up!" He took a large bite from his grilled meat for emphasis with one hand and opened the letter with the other. I turned to leave when he spoke again.

"Oh my, this is interesting!" he said, sounding fascinating. "Do stay a moment, youngster. I believe we have something to talk about." His eyes looked into mine searchingly, the grin of his still in place. I looked to the door and considered just leaving but regretfully decided against it. I'd play along for now.

"I was under the assumption that I was just delivering the letter," I said. I had actually been given it by Esdeath and asked to give it to Honest, the Prime Minister. She was still at my manor with my girlfriends chatting.

"Mmm, yes, but it is the contents of this letter that make me quite interested in you!" I wondered what in the world Esdeath had said about me. I thought the letter was a quick note that she was ready for the assembly or something, maybe that I would be accompanying her.

"She says that you are nearly as strong as she is!" I cursed her.

"I've done well when we've sparred. I'm a creative person, you see, and my teigu offers quite a bit of flexibility."

"I see, I see!" The man nodded. "And yet you, a mere wandering magician-" Alarm bells went off in my head. "-can contend with our very own Esdeath!" The man scoffed. "Magic, truly. Such a complex thing but if there is one thing everybody knows it's that human magicians are far, far weaker than the danger beasts of the world. They… twiddle their fingers and a little spark comes out." He wiggled his fat fingers and laughed as though he had made a great joke. I didn't laugh.

"Ah, but you? You bend space itself! Naturally! And of course you create portals and teleport according to some soldiers I know." Informants, he meant. Of course he was keeping an eye on me, that didn't surprise me at all.

"But if Esdeath says that you are, as you say, a great magician like those that made the teigu so long ago I'll believe her. She had never led the Empire astray before, after all!" The fat man leaned back in his chair, which marvelously didn't break or strain under his weight, and his smile turned a little toothy.

"So I'd like to offer you a small token of respect, young man! I declare you a citizen of the Empire!" I held myself back from rolling my eyes. "I've already had the papers gone through, of course, no need to worry about it, since any friend of Esdeath is a friend of mine! So, young man, if you have any issues simply come to me and I'll be happy to help! It's not just anybody who gains the attention of a beautiful woman such as Esdeath!" He winked at me with a toothy grin and I felt very uncomfortable. Was he implying that Esdeath and I would marry or something? Ah, whatever. I just wanted away from this asshole.

"I'll be sure to remember that," I said meaninglessly, noting to never ask the man for help.

"Good! Good! I'm glad we have an understanding! I must say, I'm eager to see how you adapt to life in the Empire! You have my best wishes, young man, and good luck!" Honest gestured to the door. I turned and walked away. Even while I felt like I had stepped on a turd I had to admit that the man was a great politician. He seemed completely genuine the whole time. If I hadn't known that he was a greasy, greedy scumbag before now I might have thought he was actually being truthful or maybe even generous with me.

As it was he probably intended to feel out my personality and offer me whatever I wanted so he gained another warrior like Esdeath. He would probably set me up with her too. The happier Esdeath was, after all, the more committed she was to the Empire. Unfortunately, I was just a better option for her than the Empire and probably her only real friend. He didn't stand a chance.

As soon as the door shut to Honest's office I blinked to Esdeath's room even though it was close by. I looked through her closet and immediately saw four of her military uniforms hung up neatly. I took one from the closet and took the void back to DxD.

"-ife!" Kuroka's voice finished.

"What?" I asked, handing Esdeath her uniform.

"Nothing!" she said with faux-innocence.

"We were talking about some arrangements for when my business is finished in the Empire," Esdeath explained, taking her uniform and looking it over.

"Oh. Well alright then," I said, sitting back down on the couch. Ophis stood up and I sat in her place. She sat down on my lap immediately after.

"I'm going to go get changed," Esdeath said. She stood up and paused. "Where is the changing room?"

"Use one of the guest rooms upstairs of the bathroom down here," Kuroka suggested. Esdeath nodded and walked to the stairs. Kuroka waited a moment before turning to me.

"You should date her," she said immediately. I sighed.

"Was that what you were talking about earlier?" It explained why Honest had taken the time to talk to me. It was a delaying tactic from Esdeath, the clever girl.

"Yup! And she's actually pretty cool with the whole harem thing!"

"Polyamor-"

"Sure, sure, I know that you respect all of us," she dismissed. "You can call it a harem, you know?" I looked at her stubbornly.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes, apparently thinking I was being silly. "So we were talking some stuff through, figured out where she would fit in our whole relationship, and about kids!"

"Kids? Are they all you think about?" Kuroka rubbed her stomach and shrugged.

"Well I'm probably pregnant already. You haven't used that life magic thing, right?" I shook my head. She had told me quite thoroughly, with a few threats involved, what she would do if I kept using life magic to render myself sterile. I shook my head and she nodded in satisfaction.

"Well yeah she's okay with kids, though she wants to wait a while and kill bunches of stuff before she does get pregnant. I don't get it but she's a battle junkie. I guess you can't fight when you're pregnant and she kinda needs to cool down a bit before she has any kids. She's not really great mother material. I'd bet that she's great aunt material, though! And she'll be prepared for kids when she's older by being close to our kids!" I would admit that she had a point but I was also relieved that Esdeath didn't want kids for now. There were miracles in the world after all.

"So long story short you think I should date her."

"Yeah! I mean, I'd prefer that you waited until she finished all her stuff in the Empire but if you kiss and snuggle and stuff before then that's fine with me."

"Save our first time until she wraps up her world and is ready to move on, got it. That should be good motivation to knock down Night Raid." I would have felt bad dating and sleeping with Esdeath in one world and dating Ophis and Kuroka in the other. That would have felt too close to cheating for my liking. It would also give me some time to properly date a girl before we did anything sexual. I had a terrible track record when it came to proper romantic progression.

"Hey…" Kuroka seemed almost nervous for some reason. "Esdeath… she's pretty messed up. I've killed people but I didn't enjoy it. But she… she likes torturing people and killing. Are… she seems like a nice person now but are you…" I nodded.

"She's fucked up," I put it bluntly. "Strength and combat is everything to her. But she isn't evil. I think that people just never told her that torture or murder isn't okay. It's not an innate evil. It's cultivated. With time I'm hoping that I can break her of her worse habits like recreational torture, but some things, like her respect for strength, I don't think will ever leave her. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, though. It's a part of who she is." Kuroka looked relieved and nodded with me.

"I'll try to do the same," she said. "And I hope you're right."

It was then that I heard a door open and footsteps come back down the stairs. "I'll work on it and keep you updated on how things are going," I told Kuroka. She nodded as Esdeath walked back in, her full military uniform back on.

"Whoah… is that the standard uniform?" Kuroka asked, looking at Esdeath's breasts peeking out of her uniform. "And is that a miniskirt? Why does a military uniform have a miniskirt?"

"They didn't have on in my size, and I couldn't properly kick in the tough pants that the military usually uses. I requested a skirt and Honest himself approved that I could use one. I can kick properly without those pants."

"Huh. Okay… but what about your, uh…" Kuroka's eyes went up to her breasts. Esdeath glared at her.

"You have no right to talk." I glanced at Kuroka's chest in her very, VERY tight kimono, which purposefully did the bare minimum to protect her modesty. She blushed and looked away.

"So you're ready to go?" I changed the subject. Esdeath nodded and walked to me as I made a portal crossing dimensions. "I'll see you two soon," I told my girlfriends.

"Bye!"

"Come back soon."

I waved a little and closed the portal when Esdeath stepped through to her room. "So do you think they're ready?" I asked. She looked at a wall and I saw a clock on it above a small bookshelf between two windows.

"It's roughly time. We may be slightly early. Best to wait until a servant comes," she said. She walked to her bed and sat down, making some of the sheets bounce, and tossed her old casual clothes onto the pillows. "So what did you and your girlfriends talk about while I was changing?"

"They filled me in a little as to your plans to date me," I said dryly, causing her to blush and look away. "I didn't know you were that interested. I could tell, of course, but seriously dating me despite my attachments? I'm not sure what it is you're thinking."

"You're strong, kind but not to a fault, more empathetic than you think, and willing to work with my habits of torture and bloodlust. I know that many good men would be unwilling to be with me because of my habits. Not many good men torture and murder, after all. I would never consider a romantic relationship with my soldiers who rape after the battle is done, for example, despite the hypocrisy of it. I consider myself lucky to have met you. I'm willing to share so long as your others aren't jealous harpies." A sly smile crossed her face. "I believe we worked out just where we stand with each other. It was easier than you seem to think."

I looked at her suspiciously. "Where you stand with each other, hm?" She nodded.

"I'm to be the pubic wife. I'll accompany you on your adventures more often than not and I'll handle other people with you. Kuroka is, as she said it, 'the energetic one'. A role I think she'll fit easily, though she'll be managing children and her house quite a bit. She's surprisingly simple and is happy to just be with you, though I hope she doesn't become soft from inaction. Ophis is similar, though she made it clear that if we infringed on her time without good reason there would be consequences."

"That sounds…" I trailed off. Too good to be true? Unrealistic? Well it was happening, wasn't it? Besides, it sounded like Kuroka was getting exactly what she wanted, a husband she loved, some other women to play with, and a bunch of kids, not to mention that harems were par for the course for DxD. Ophis' time with me hadn't changed and Esdeath got me to bring her around to fight others and get stronger. She might also see it as natural for me to have multiple lovers due to my strength. Everyone got just what they wanted with little to no need for sacrifices on their part for me.

"Actually, that's surprisingly sensible. I can see how that will work."

"Surprisingly?" she asked dangerously.

"I don't consider polygamy to be a very stable or healthy romantic lifestyle. To see it working so well is strange for me. We didn't have harems at all where I was born." Esdeath shrugged.

"You just need the right people and the right talents," she said. At that time, just the right time, really, a small knock on the door had me walking to it. I opened it and a refined man looked briefly surprised before looking past me to Esdeath and back to me.

"Lady Esdeath is requested for her audience with the Emperor," he said. I nodded.

"Tell whoever sent you that we'll be present in a moment." He bowed and walked off so I closed the door. "Should I get into a uniform?"

"Don't bother. Your cloak and combat wear is formal enough," Esdeath said uncaringly. She walked past me out of the room and I walked with her. We didn't talk and eventually came to a large fancy door manned by two attendants on either side of it.

"Normally the three beasts would be behind me as support but we teleported and they did not. You will do. Walk slightly behind me and to the right. Do you have any problems with kneeling?"

"I don't mind. Just don't expect me to actually serve the Empire honestly," I replied. She nodded and turned to the door, looking at the attendants tellingly. They glanced to each other and turned, pushing open the doors in sync. When the doors were open Esdeath walked forwards down a red carpet, myself following her.

"Now entering General Esdeath, General of the imperial armies," announced the servant on the right door. Some faint whispers stopped.

The throne room was smaller than I'd have expected. It was a slightly narrow room leading to a small throne where a child in green finery no more than twelve years old sat wearing a somewhat silly hat. Above us at our sides, elevated by short walls, were richly dressed nobles muttering amongst themselves.

Esdeath and I approached the throne in a few seconds of silence and kneeled down. Esdeath's head was bowed to the young Emperor, her hat on her chest, while mine was just below hers at the base of the throne, where I could see everything in my peripheral vision.

"General Esdeath! Welcome back from the icy north. We've heard tales of your conquest already," the Emperor said with a smile. "For your success in dealing with the northern tribes we have arranged a reward of ten thousand gold coins."

"I'm grateful, your highness. I'll send it to the soldiers still fighting to protect our land. They will be pleased." Honest, who stood at the Emperor's left side, seemed amused at this for some reason. "Now that I've returned to the capital from the northlands your majesty can once again rest at ease. I shall be terminating Night Raid next."

"Quite an ambitious undertaking," the Emperor approved. "We would like to compensate you for such an achievement with more than just money. Is there something else you prefer?" I could, just barely, see Esdeath's mouth smile just a little bit. It was the smile of a plan going exactly as expected.

"Actually, there is, if I could choose anything," she said, raising her head to the throne. I heard mutters from the nobles to my sides but they were ignored.

"Of course! Go on," the Emperor encouraged.

"I'd like to retire," she said. The throne room fell into utter silence as everyone looked at Esdeath. The Emperor and Honest stared at her genuinely open-mouthed for a moment, probably wondering if Esdeath, who literally lives for war and combat, just asked to retire.

"I-I beg your pardon, but retire? That is rather sudden,"tThe Emperor said, seemingly off guard. He glanced at Honest several times hopefully, who looked back at him wide-eyed, seemingly not knowing what to do. The nobles began actually talking, filling the throne room with background noise.

"I have found that there is more to my life than simple combat. Though I love my armies deeply, I trust General Budo to protect the Empire I have worked hard for," she said. I had to hold in my laughter. Live for more than combat? She was lying through her teeth!"

"I… yes, that is… true. There are many in the Empire who find comfort in… non-martial pursuits," the Emperor looked again to Honest, his gaze pleading. Honest looked between Esdeath and the Emperor and the nobles in the stands. You could see his teeth gritting as he nodded, looking like his heart was being ripped out. "Yes, that… can be accomplished," the Emperor smiled, seemingly more at ease with an order from Honest. "However, you say that you desire to finish Night Raid first?"

"Yes," Esdeath confirmed. "I would like to finish my obligations before I truly leave. I would not leave the Empire without a final gift, thus why my goal is so ambitious." The Emperor nodded.

"If I may," Honest cut in. "Would your retirement have anything to do with your newest companion?" Esdeath nodded.

"May I introduce Abyss Mavros, traveller, a fighter on par with myself and… my lover." Honest's eyes widened and he looked at me with a mixture of pity and anger.

"Ah… my congratulations, then," he said, sounding torn between his emotions, though he showed a toothy grin to me.

"Thank you, Prime Minister," she said pleasantly. "My time serving under your command has been a pleasure and I have learned much. Yet it's time I moved on to… other things."

"I understand," he said, glaring at me. I looked up just a little bit and met his gaze with neutrality, already knowing that we were not going to get along. I had taken the lady holding the Empire up, after all.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This is a day late not because I missed the date but because I realized last minute that there was a lemon at the end that I needed to write. I feel kinda bad for being late so much so you get an interlude on top of the chapter! Yay! **

**I tried to take the advice of a guy with the initials of SLM with the lemon. I'm not sure if he's used his real name or not so I'm not going to say his username but he sent me a PM with some advice. Thanks for that. It definitely helped. Have a nice week, you all. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 11**= ||||]

A whole month passed with little to nothing happening. Kuroka was pregnant, of course, with as much as we had done together that was a given. Ophis was pregnant too, but in a different sense. Her soul had an anomaly in it that was tinted a little red. It was collecting void affinity from her slowly and growing in power but it would take a long, LONG time before it gained enough affinity to form a physical body through sheer presence of magical energy like it's mother. She wasn't pregnant in a physical sense but in a magical sense she was forming a new soul.

I was a little concerned but not particularly much. All I had to do was make a body for the fledgeling soul when we decided it should be born. It was almost more convenient than a normal birth since we could have the baby born as soon as we wanted, which was decided to be when Kuroka had hers.

I was also concerned about Kuroka's baby since I used my enhanced faunus DNA and she had nekoshou DNA but that was easily fixed by feeding the budding soul in her a trickle of life affinity every night. It would also likely give the soul a propensity for life magic if the affinity was assimilated into the soul's structure. That could be nothing but good.

I made sure to study how souls were formed by writing a daily analysis in my journal and using observe to measure how powerful it was and how much affinity it had. The study would help me know how to safely modify other burgeoning souls in the future.

Besides the pregnancy not much had happened. I had watched Harry in the second task, he was perfectly fine and saved Hermione without much trouble. He also saved Fleur's sister, making me very nearly go tease him about making a harem. Thankfully I restrained myself… and Kuroka.

In the teigu-verse Esdeath had been flushing out criminals and searching for Night Raid with the three beasts, though she was having little success. I didn't mind going to slaughter some criminals or bandits with Esdeath, though. It was almost like a date for the two of us, though our actual dates were quite nice too. It seemed to frustrate her that we weren't going very far as a couple but it only made her more determined to flush out Night Raid. I had given her a little card of dyed ice that, when cracked, would send me a signal of void from across dimensions and let me see her deal with the assassins or help out if I had to.

I hadn't gone to any other dimensions in the meantime. I had thought about it but decided to stay idle and spend time with my girlfriends. I had set up my magical workshop, done more to fill the house with things of value to me, tended to my cult, did a lot of reading on DxD's magical knowledge, and did a lot of work on my property making trails to nice points around the estate and making magical anomalies just because it would be amusing to see people discover them. My future kids, for example. I had a feeling that making anomalies would be a long-term project. I had a lot of ground to cover, after all, and I wasn't just throwing around affinity. I put actual effort to create interesting magical effects. That and making deposits of dust here and there. They reminded me of home.

I was just waiting until somebody found the first anomaly. Ophis wasn't interested in walking around but I kind of hoped Kuroka wandered around the wilds at some point.

"OHMYHOLYCRAP! ABYSS I FOUND SOMETHING AWESOME!" I stopped brainstorming how to make a machine that produces dust and spun my chair to turn towards her.

"Could you knock first next time?" I asked. She winced.

"Sorry… Oh! But there's this super cool thing in the woods! Come and see!" I hid a grin, wondering what she had found, and followed after her.

"So I was getting kinda bored, right? I thought about spying on my sister some more or pranking the brigade but I decided not to because I had done both of those too much lately, although little sis kissed that Hyodo kid on the cheek last time I saw her! So I saw that you made some trails here and there and followed one when I saw this cool crystal!" We exited the house and Kuroka started jogging down one of the trail paths I had made. I followed, easily seeing through the darkness of near-midnight.

"Cool crystal?" I asked, already knowing she had found some of the dust I had planted and not one of the more interesting things like the dungeon full of tons of giant spiders made from hard light I had fused life and mind affinity into. Even the floor was made of spiders in that one! If somebody walked in there without a light they were fucked. Not that the spiders would hurt anything, I had made sure that they wouldn't when I designed their minds.

"Yeah! It's super cool! So it's right… there!" She pointed off the trail where the darkness lightened a bit, a soft pale glow lighting the area around a small crystal. Kuroka ran over to it and crouched over it. I came right by her.

"What is it?" she asked. I reached out to poke it but she grabbed my hand. "No, don't touch it. It burns, duh. Don't you feel that?" She released my hand and I looked between her and the dust made of condensed purity. I poked the crystal. She looked between my hand and my utterly un-pained face.

"What?" She sounded confused.

"It doesn't hurt. 

"Yeah, I can see that. But… wait a sec." She poked the crystal and her hand started to smoke a little. "Oh! I know this burning! Is this thing holy?! I didn't notice earlier but it burns kinda like one!"

"Oh, so since you're a devil it burns you?"

"Yup!" Kuroka grinned at the crystal, proud of herself but her smile quickly faded. "But… why is this thing here? And why is a crystal holy? And glowing?"

"That's for you to figure out and for me to laugh about," I said, standing back up.

"Huh? What? Why?! Isn't this thing kina cool?"

"Not really. I've littered dust all over my property."

"What?"

"Dust is… you know what? I'm not even going to tell you that."

"Wha-hey!"

"You can look up the magical theory yourself or wait for one of the smart children to figure it out. I mean, little stuff like this though? Easy to figure out."

"Okay, that's great but why did you litter this stuff all over the property?!"

I shrugged. "A bunch of nature is boring. The woods here aren't even magical. Kids should grow up somewhere awesome. So I made the forest magical."

"You… okay, I can't actually fault that."

"Yeah, but this is one of the really common anomalies. If you look around a little bit you'll find the way more interesting ones. I've spent hours on a few of them so far and I'm only going to make more before I expand the property or start making strides underground. It's about time I got an earth or stone affinity."

"So let me get this straight, you wandered around the property littering magical stuff everywhere for fun?"

"And because I want other people to find the stuff and think that it's awesome, specifically the kids when they're born, but that's a ways away. It gives me a headstart, though, so I have a lot of time to make a lot of interesting things. I might make a scoreboard for who found what and give out points they can turn in for rewards or something. I have a lot of time on my hands. Why not devote some more to another hobby? I'm making awesome magical stuff anyways. At this point I just need to study aether to make some really ridiculous things. Maybe I should set up some more flexible affinities too."

Kuroka had zoned out halfway through my talk, probably missing half of that. "I'm going to go find some cool magical stuff." She ran off down the trail again and I shrugged and blinked back to my workshop.

I really needed to find a way to bind affinity more tightly together using aether. But how do you control aether? It's ambient and not naturally controllable like mana or a part of us like aura. Maybe an affinity for it? Should I cultivate a mana affinity in that case to make my mana more potent? An affinity affinity to make a multiplier to my affinities? Ugh, when I looked for more strength there was so much to do. Magic was a never-ending struggle for understanding. I was getting there, though.

… I really hope Kuroka falls in the cave of spiders. I should set up cameras. I'll do that tomorrow. But I have to make a secret chamber to hold all the screens to the cameras and cords for them and I'll need to set up portals to link the cords to my workshop… Ugh. Better do it tomorrow than have to go back over everything. Besides, recording Kuroka's reaction to the spiders and showing it to kids or Esdeath will be priceless!

[|||| =-= ||||]

Esdeath broke the card. I immediately teleported.

"You called?" I asked, not missing a beat. She gestured to a rooftop. I looked and saw nobody so I teleported upwards.

"Yang?!" I asked, shocked. "Oh, wait, you're not Yang… you look familiar, though." I frowned at the woman in a combat stance looking at me warily. She was an animal/human hybrid, like me, with golden lion ears and a tail. But she also had golden fur and paws on her hands. It must make it really inconvenient to do daily chores.

"She is Leone of Night Raid," Esdeath said, jumping up beside me. The Yang lookalike, Leone, narrowed her eyes and ran. I increased the inertia acting on her and she fell down.

"… So did you just call me here so I could watch you kill her?"

"No. I'm going to capture her and use her as bait. Maybe crucify her in a public space?" Esdeath seemed thoughtful.

"Maybe a public execution?" I suggested.

"Oh, that will work," she agreed. "And thank you for dealing with her."

"It wouldn't have been a fight with you. She's clearly not very strong." I looked to Leone, who was very, very slowly running away.

"Clearly," Esdeath agreed. She walked towards her and made some handcuffs out of ice, slipping them onto the lady.

"Huh… Bye, then, unless there's something else?" I tossed another card of dyed ice at her. I had made about five, expecting that Night Raid would take more than one operation.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, referencing our planned date at the docks. I disappeared again as soon as the card was in her hands.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Two hours later the other card broke. "What now?" I growled, in the middle of trying to make a magical creature from scratch. It wasn't going well, but I had time. I wrapped up my work in a few seconds and teleported.

I immediately saw Esdeath in the middle of combat with a man in white armour on the deck of a ship, Liver assisting her. A brown-haired boy was off to the side hesitating. The bodies of Daidara and Nyau, the other two members of the three beasts besides Liver, were beside him.

Suddenly, my skill for sensing danger, instinctual, activated and I warped space around me without real thought behind it. A blast of pure energy curved around me and flew into the distance. It was pretty strong. I could take maybe ten of them before my aura gave out.

I turned to face my attacker and saw a pink-haired girl lowering her rifle, then raising it in surprise as she saw that I was still standing. I waited until her finger squeezed the trigger and teleported behind her. The second shot rang out, a much stronger beam than before passing through my previous position, and she looked once more only to stiffen in shock.

My sword, scabbard still attached, slammed into the back of her right knee. The girl screamed as she fell to the ground and I grabbed her by the neck, my other hand gripping her sniper. "Rude," I chided.

"TATSUMI!" The girl screamed.

"MINE!" I looked to my left to see the brown-haired kid charging me already, a sword in his hands.

"Here." I threw the girl at the charging boy and he skidded his heels on the roof to catch her. I turned invisible before he could ask anything and teleported back to watch Esdeath.

She was viciously beautiful in combat. She pressed every advantage against the armored man, her sword darting past his defenses even as she wove past his strikes with a spear. River took what few openings he had to attack the armored man, making him have to constantly balance between being too close to Esdeath and getting stabbed or too far and getting injured by Liver's teigu. I could easily see that if Esdeath wanted to she could kill him, but she was having too much fun toying with him, slowly cutting away at him and systematically crushing him even without her teigu. She was enjoying that she was strong enough even without it to take the man down.

Beside me the pink haired girl rushed to the edge of the roof and aimed quickly, taking a shot at Esdeath. She stepped aside and dodged the shot easily, making the armored man do the same. Unfortunately, he dodged away from Esdeath, forcing him to immediately defend against Liver. I noticed that his movements were getting slower. Was he getting exhausted?

The pink haired girl shot at Esdeath three more times, clearly panicking. The shots got stronger and stronger each time but Esdeath was gone after the first time and the wall of ice she summoned to block the shots was destroyed.

The ice she summoned behind the sniper and the brown haired kid warped a little as she stepped out of it, having teleported through her ice. Her rapier stabbed through the chest of the sniper, causing the brown haired kid to look to the side in horror at the spray of blood. An icicle was shot down at his knee, breaking off his left leg and throwing him down from the roof to the deck.

"Tatsumi! No!" The armored man, now with half his helmet and an eye missing courtesy of Liver, reached out to grasp at the boy's body desperately, as though it would change something. Liver was looking at the man sadly as he held his hand out. Sharp tendrils of water leapt at the armored man and speared him through the side, causing him to collapse to the deck and cough, blood filling his mouth. He tore his helmet off and looked in hatred and sadness at Liver and then at his fallen companion.

"Bro…" the brown haired kid groaned, looking at the armored man in fear for him.

"Now, now, there's no need for more bloodshed." Esdeath leapt down and put her foot on the back of the injured boy. "Your base… or the boy's life." Her rapier lowered to the back of the boy's neck. The armored man looked torn and terribly angry. He shut his eyes hard and lowered his head to the deck.

"I am so sorry, Tatsumi," he whispered. It was at this point that I intervened, teleporting in front of the armored man and putting my hand on his temple. He opened his eyes a little and then widely in surprise.

"… Ten kilometers west of the capital. In the mountains," I said. The armored man looked surprised again and then hatred entered his gaze. I channeled life affinity and mana into his wounds and they stitched together, healing in a few seconds. He looked down at his wounds and me in confused anger. "There's no need to kill a good person, and you seem decent." I looked to Esdeath.

"Should we spare him?" She shrugged.

"We can imprison him. It's my duty to disband Night Raid, not kill them all. Besides that I don't really care."

"I… please, little bro, Tatsumi." The armored man said. I handed the armored man to Liver and walked to the brown haired kid. I took a short look at his leg and healed it. He immediately tried to lunge up at me and punch me in the gut but Esdeath's rapier's hilt slammed down on his head.

"I thought you weren't going to get involved?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"This is the north all over again. It's just flushing them out and I'm an impatient person when the solution is easily achievable. You'll be doing the fighting, though." She nodded and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. We shared a smile a moment later.

"Mine… you killed Mine." The brown haired kid growled, gripping the deck hard enough that he made grooves in the solid wood. I looked at the corpse of the pink haired girl and teleported it to me.

"Pierced heart. I can heal it. It only happened a few minutes ago. Her soul's still lingering too," I said.

"W… what?" Tatsumi asked, stunned. "You… please! Please, I'll do anythi-" Esdeath's boot settled on his head, pushing his face to the ground.

"We're having a moment," she growled. I pulled her head in and kissed her on the lips. Her anger immediately faded. I looked down at Tatsumi again.

"She's important to you?" He nodded as best her could with Esdeath's boot on his head. I sighed.

"I'm taking her teigu."

"Pumpkin. It grows more powerful based on the emotions of its wielder," Esdeath commented. I teleported away and stored the rifle in my soul space. It didn't have a soul, but it was still a powerful weapon. I could always use more of those. I quickly healed the sniper, Mine, restarted her heart with a jolt of electricity through my storm affinity, and walked to the armored man.

"Teigu," I commanded him. His armor shimmered and a beautiful steel sword with a jeweled hilt came into my view. But I didn't care about its appearance. "It has a soul!" I said in happiness. "Thank you! I've been wanting to study how the greater teigu like Esdeath's demon blood still maintained a soul for a while now, but I can't just take the blood out of her, you see. This will help me immensely in my research." The man looked a little interested that there was a soul in the sword but was rather apathetic as a whole, brooding over his defeat and looking down sadly.

"Knock them out," Esdeath commanded. She stomped on the head of Tatsumi and kicked the head of the sniper, whose eyes were fluttering awake. Liver punched the back of the armored man's head and he slumped to the ground. "Bring them back and put them in a cell. Be very careful with them. Have thirty guards around them at all times. Especially the hundred man slayer. Oh, and don't mention that Abyss can heal to anybody." Judging by Esdeath's look towards the armored man I assumed the title was his.

"Yes, Milady." Liver bowed and put his fist to his chest. Tentacles of water grasped around the members of Night Raid and Liver jumped onto the water off the side of the boat. I looked down to see him riding to the shore on top of the water like it was a surfboard.

"So you want to flush them out or grab somebody to come with you?" I asked. Esdeath rubbed her chin consideringly.

"Would you like to help?" she asked. I shrugged. I was done with the universe at this point. I had even given up on my magic restriction, though I would prefer to stick with it for combat purposes.

"Not really," I replied.

"Well either way the answer is no," she said. I nodded and blinked long-distance several times west. I scanned around with mage-sight and blinked again, going about a kilometer each time. I smiled when I found the base and opened a portal to Esdeath. I pointed it the direction of the base and we started walking the short distance to the tower. I kind of hoped that we wouldn't kill anybody but that seemed like an unreasonable expectation with Esdeath so I lowered it to nobody too kind. I didn't go in with expectations for success. I had been lucky with those last three members. I didn't want to rely on luck, though.

When we came to a tower seemingly squished underneath a cliff I jumped into a tree and watched from afar under invisibility as Esdeath made her way into the tower. She paused at a point, and after a closer look, I saw an array of thin wires stretched between the trees. She sighed and simply took out her rapier to cut them all down before continuing her walk forwards.

It didn't take long before I saw a shape come close to one of the windows of the tower and see Esdeath walking inside. The shape ran away quickly from the window just as Esdeath was beginning to enter. I used a portal shrouded under an illusion to watch her. Before something interesting could happen to her the shape came to the window and opened it quickly. I saw that it was a woman with grey hair and a mechanical arm holding a raven with a note attached to it's leg. She threw it out quickly and closed the window, leaving the bird to fly away. I let it go.

My girlfriend stalked the halls of Night Raid, keeping her rapier naked all the while, occasionally cutting through traps made from the thin wire we had seen before. She seemed bored. I myself used mage sight to locate two aura signatures in the tower, both up in the top of the tower.

"Top of the tower. I don't know what they're doing," I wind whispered to Esdeath. She nodded, taking my word for it, and began moving quicker. It still took her five minutes to get to the top, having to navigate through the traps and the odd structure of the tower. Stairs alternating between opposite ends of the tower was just one of the oddities of the tower. There were a few doors that led to nowhere and even one or two mundane traps. I assumed they were there to dissuade attackers.

Finally, Esdeath made it to the top of the tower, where there was just one door. She kicked it open only for it to splinter down the middle, though wooden furniture could be seen through the cracks. I groaned in tandem with my girlfriend. She drew her sword back and stabbed mightily, a spear of ice forming around it. The spear pierced through the furniture and melted away a moment later.

"Najenda," Esdeath said coolly through the gap. "Barricading yourself in now? Delaying the inevitable?" Her response came as a shot rang out, only to be blocked by Esdeath's sword.

"I expected more, honestly," she admitted. "The three members of yours protecting the boat are still alive for now. The same goes for the lion girl. I had planned on a public execution to lure you out, you realise? But I didn't even have to do that. Now, will you end this farce of an assault and simply let me execute you? I'll even spare your comrade if you do."

Voices whispered behind the door for a solid minute before Esdeath got impatient. "Enough," she said. "Your decision?" I noticed two figures, a black haired girl dressed in red and black and a tired looking green haired boy, sprinting to the base, making giant strides. The green-haired boy said something and stayed outside the tower while the dark haired girl entered, still running.

"I stand with my team," a firm voice said from beyond the door Esdeath stood at.

"So be it," she said. Spears of ice formed inside the room, striking at the occupants. When that was done she used the ice to teleport inside and I got my first glimpse of the members of Night Raid.

There was a purple haired lady holding a giant pair of scissors and an older lady with an eyepatch and a revolver. The first lady managed to block the first of my girlfriend's strikes but then had her throat pierced and torn out by the rapier. She stumbled to the barricades around the door and cut a few off with her scissors for some reason before she bled out. I thought it was an odd last move until I remembered the reinforcements. I teleported her corpse to me and healed her before knocking her out.

"No!" The other lady sounded furious. She aimed her revolver only to have her hand holding it encased in ice.

"Hello again, Najenda," Esdeath said with a smirk. The other lady, apparently Najenda, was silently glaring at her. "… No last words?"

It was at that moment that the black haired girl smashed through the weakened barricades, immediately locking onto Esdeath. Their swords clashed and Najenda fired her revolver, making ice fly from the end of her hand, and aiming once more. But the two swordswomen were already locked in combat. Strangely enough my girlfriend was on the defensive and avoiding even the most minor of injuries. The other teigu user was taking even the smallest of opportunities, holding nothing back. I myself was entranced by the blade she wielded. It was the third teigu I had seen that had a soul, though it was far, far weaker than the other two. But it also had a huge amount of corruption affinity, the same kind that spawned grimm. I wanted to study it.

Eventually my girlfriend finally managed to get a strike in, leaving a gash on the other fighter's shoulder. She barely managed to avoid a counterattack, though, having lost a few strands of hair. The ground was coated with ice at this point and a few small obstacles to hinder the black haired girl had been created.

"Akame… I think this is the end," Najenda said. Akame, the swordswoman apparently, glanced back at her for a second where nobody attacked.

"Let's still try," she decided in a quiet voice. "Outside." With that word Najenda bolted, running through the base.

"Running again? I can't fault you that," my girlfriend said. "But I can't allow it either." She leaped backwards, where a screen of ice collected on the wall, and disappeared into it. She reappeared leaping through the door from the ice on the floor. Akame growled and pursued her through the fort, though she looked grim when she came to a barrier of solid ice blocking the stairway. Without hesitation she leapt out of a window instead, falling down to the ground gracefully.

Inside, Najenda was fleeing Esdeath as fast as she could, sometimes firing a shot behind her just in case. She was catching up, though. Pretty quickly, in fact. She was a lot faster than Najenda, though it was tempered by her knowledge of the base and her desire to flee. It was only a matter of time, though.

Then she jumped out an open window.

"Really?" I muttered in exasperation. "Just really? More of that?" Was it a standard evacuation procedure for them or something?

Najenda was caught by the green haired boy, who I had noticed setting up the wire traps. "Sheele's dead," she groaned, winded by her fall. The boy seemed sad but then he got angry.

"Where's Bulat's team?" Akame asked.

"Esdeath claims she captured them and Leone," she said, reloading her revolver.

"And she's just charging in here? Where's the beasts or… I dunno, her hubby?" the green haired boy asked. 

"Abyss Mavros is typically a noncombatant unless provoked. He's also acting as an associate of Esdeath. Not her subordinate. He's likely not here," Najenda said. "Or watching us." She looked into the trees where I was hidden, though not directly at me.

"What does that mean?" Greenie asked.

"It means we can't kill her or we'll have two problems we can't afford instead of just one," Najenda said.

"Great."

Esdeath figured out that Najenda wasn't hiding at that point and looked outside to see the team talking together, weapons ready. She growled in irritation and was about to leap down but she paused and closed her eyes. Making a motion with her hand.

A huge wall of ice rose up around the camp, alarming the members of Night Raid, but it looked like it wore her down a bit. "Ugh… Abyss, the wielder of Masamune… a single cut of that blade can end a life. It's poisonous." I looked at the katana in the hands of Akame and nodded, not that she could see it.

"If you look like you're going to be cut by it sever the limb immediately, of course. I can regrow it. If it's your torso I'll extract your soul from your body and make you a new one," I assured her through wind whisper. She nodded and looked down at Night Raid. Ice spread under their feet once more and she leapt down.

Her sword immediately leapt towards Greenie. Akame tried to intercept her but a thin wall of ice rose to block her. Najenda fired as fast as she could but couldn't hit her. Greenie managed to dodge the first blow somewhat, losing an arm, but he lost his other limbs soon after. At this point I used blink to teleport him to me. I healed his limbs and knocked him out just like the scissors-lady. I just didn't want to kill anybody decent before, but now a plan was starting to form in my head.

My girlfriend wasn't dissuaded by the loss of her prey. Her next target was Najenda and in the open space she could maneuver around Akame, her teigu being far more suited for open spaces than closed rooms. It let her control the battlefield and seperate the two with another wall of ice.

Najenda fired the rest of her bullets but all of them were deflected. "Goodbye, Najenda." Her head was severed from her body, an angry, hateful expression on her face. I repeated the same process I had used with Lubbock, reattaching her head and knocking her out. I made an illusion of her decapitated, though, and left her soul in my soul space to fool Esdeath. It was all part of the plan. Last was Akame. The wall of ice melted down to nothing.

"… I hate you," she said simply. "I truly do." The katana was put to her wrist and for some reason she slit her wrist with the blade. Corruption flowed into her body and the weak soul meshed with hers. Corruption flowed through her soul and her body, leaving the katana just that. A katana. I was shocked at the change and came to a quick conclusion. She was becoming like Salem. Then I saw her eyes. Black sclera. Fuck. Should I stop this?

I resigned to watch very, very closely as black markings crossed over Akame's skin - are those runes made from crystallized corruption affinity like dust - what the fuck is she doing - why had I never thought about runic tattoos made of dust that was genius!

The battle began in earnest while I had a hundred questions about Akame's teigu. Screw the silver sword I got. I wanted that one.

The battle began in earnest again. Akame had gotten faster and stronger, swiftly dodging any projectiles sent at her and moving past any walls of ice or barriers before they rose up. But Esdeath was versatile, having more than just a sword and physical abilities. She teleported through ice, used ice as armor, used small blizzards to block Akame's vision, and tried to collect frost on Akame's body. Unfortunately, it was slow going.

I didn't know for sure but I theorized that her body heat had risen as her performance had increased, making her burn more calories to sustain her movement. The runes on her were designed to make her faster and stronger, after all. What did making them out of corruption do? I hadn't felt so curious since I first discovered void.

As the fight drew on Akame grew more desperate and reckless, taking hits in the chance to land just one. She got very close. I nearly had a heart attack (were that still possible for me) when the flat of her sword skimmed Esdeath's knuckles. A poison I could cure but if the lesser soul entered Esdeath's and tore at it I would have a hell of a time drawing it out. I was almost certain the 'poison' was the captured soul of the beast used to make the teigu at this point. So much corruption in one weapon sorta was a poison, in a way.

The battle finally ended when Akame overextended herself and Esdeath stepped forwards, her sword cutting down through Akame's elbows. She didn't stop there and speared her victim through the side, the rapier going hilt-deep through the assassin's abdomen.

I REALLY didn't want to lose the girl so I teleported her to me and ripped the lesser soul from Akame's before stuffing it back in the sword, which was surprisingly easy. I made sure to mop up every bit of corruption in her, which was an extremely difficult task. Some of the affinity was diffused into her soul, which would linger in the runic tattoos with a few lingering traces of the lesser soul's aura, which would constantly be poisoning her very, very weakly. I had to use void like a scalpel to drag every last bit of that out. Then I had to heal her, which was far easier than surgery on her soul.

"Why do you keep healing everybody?" Esdeath asked from beside me, puzzled.

"Because they're good people," I said simply. That was true. I had been observing them and every member of Night Raid was a purehearted person who did terrible things in the hopes of a better world. Murdering them would be… wrong.

"Hm. At least Najenda is dead. She betrayed me long ago. I had to settle the debt." She kicked the hard light illusion and I had to use a little mind affinity to make her think that it was a genuine corpse.

"Hm. Well let's turn these in and leave quietly. With any luck we can get out of here without having to attend a big party and act sad that we're leaving." She nodded, smiling at me. She kissed me softly, looking lovingly into my eyes.

"And then I can finally begin my life with you… It will be fun." She seemed happy and I mimicked her happy smile, feeling a bit bad that I was going to deceive her.

[|||| =-= ||||]

The members of Night Raid were scheduled for a public execution. They were making a show of it, escalating the execution of Leone, the blonde assassin, to include all of them but Najenda and Akame, who we claimed had died. They had been put in cells watched over by some teigu-users that had been drawn from the other users in the Empire. They weren't important.

Esdeath was at my manor sorting out her place in the master bedroom with Kuroka and Ophis. I only had a few minutes before I had to get back. We had a busy night ahead of us, after all. Ophis and Kuroka had agreed that the first night would be hers alone. It was generous of them and I made a note to thank them later.

I teleported into their cell silently and walked to the one farthest to the right. Leone. She looked up at me and immediately glared, though she didn't say anything. Her eyes widened when I took out a dagger and crouched down to her. I brought it to the manacles on her wrist and used some space magic to make the edge of the dagger nearly monomolecular. I cut through both of her bindings and saw her looking at me in confusion. I opened a portal in her cell and blinked to the next cell.

I repeated the process six times for all the members of Night Raid. It looked like Tatsumi, Mine, and Greenie had been beaten. I felt a bit bad about that and healed them before making the portal out of the cell.

When they had all gone through their portals (the pink haired sniper had been obstinate and I had to push her through) I teleported in front of them, deep in the forest.

"We're five kilometers north of your old base. Here." I took the sniper, scissors, a yellow belt, and some odd claws connected to a spool of wire, all of them teigu.

"Where's Incrusio?" the big man asked curtly.

"The sword? You're not getting that back. Nor are you getting Akame. She cut herself on her sword and got stronger to try and kill Esdeath. She's dead," I lied. I had her in a medical coma at my house. I planned to use her as my new research subject like I used Vera if I could. If not she would be experimented on until I learned everything and then I'd leave her wherever she wanted with heaps of money and the knowledge that her team was safe and the Empire was collapsing, as it surely _would_ collapse without Esdeath. But that was a ways in the future.

"Where's Najenda?!" Tatsumi demanded hostilely. I pointed to my right, where she was leaning against a tree.

"I hate the Empire too, you know? But I care for Esdeath more than others. Good luck," I said shortly.

"Hey! Wai-" I ignored Mine and disappeared. They could figure things out for themselves. I had more important things to worry about. Like what I was going to do now.

**[Lemon - The cold doesn't bother me anyways~]**

The moment I disappeared from that world Esdeath greeted me with a deep kiss, pressing herself close to me. "Come on. I've waited nearly a month." She pulled me away by the hand to my bedroom. Kuroka wolf whistled as I was dragged away and I chuckled, waving jokingly to her.

"So I have to ask, is this your first time?" I asked while being pulled along. Esdeath stiffened a little, though I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't paying attention.

"No." She didn't stop walking.

"It's hardly anything to be ashamed of," I reassured her, inciting a small blush of embarrassment. "I am surprised, though. You're beautiful, especially compared to the women from your world." The blush grew a little. Score one, Abyss.

"It was never a priority."

"Nobody ever pursued you?"

She considered that for a moment, slowing down a little in the process. "Come to think of it, no, nobody ever has." She looked down at her breasts concernedly. "I always thought I looked rather nice."

"… Oh wait, I get it. Most men shy away from women who happen to murder thousands on the monthly." Come to think of it I might have a few screws loose myself. I met the most unhinged woman ever - well Salem might be a bit more crazy - and now I was taking her to bed. I didn't exactly have a good track record for logical and thought out decisions did I?

"Not every man. You, for example." I hoped I was getting the signals right and pulled her shirt off over her head. She helped a little and tossed it down the hallway.

"Why would I shy away from you when you're so sweet to me?" I tossed my own shirt off and opened the door to my bedroom.

"I suppose that being stronger than me-" her legs got a little closer together "-would make me far less intimidating." She smiled and sat down on my, well, our bed and started to pull off her boots.

"Well yes, but I also think that you're not as scary as you like to seem sometimes," I said.

"Oh?" She seemed to take that as a challenge for some reason.

"Well I've got you so vulnerable here." I warped space for a moment to appear right in front of her and push her down onto the bed, both of us still half clothed. She tensed instinctively so I waited a moment before lowering to her, kissing her gently. "You can let your guard down for a moment, you know?" She stared at me before she relaxed and sunk into the bed a bit.

"Fine," she muttered. She didn't wait before taking her skirt off and sitting up, which I let her do. That prompted more kissing and I moved a little quicker, trailing my hands over her, taking her bra off in the process, flicking it somewhere to my right. I didn't pay much attention to it but Esdeath's bust was really, really impressive. Her ass was almost as fantastic, supernaturally so really, and I let my hands wander her body shamelessly while hers did the same, though she was more focused on the kiss we were sharing.

She wasn't a good kisser. She had talent but she clearly hadn't kissed anyone before, which hardly surprised me. I let my tongue caress hers, taking the lead effortlessly. She tasted, a little oddly, like snow. I hadn't noticed it before but her whole body was a little cold. It was just especially noticeable when I kissed her for longer than a few seconds.

I began moving my hands farther downwards, rubbing between her thighs, and Esdeath followed suite, rubbing between my legs. She started pulling off my pants and I slipped a finger under her blue panties, tracing her pussy. She seperated and let out an erotic sigh, clearly practiced. I tried not to laugh at her for that.

"D-don't laugh," she muttered ineffectually. I noticed one of her hands against my chest, explaining how she had noticed my hidden laughter.

"That sigh was terrible," I said in amusement. "Did Kuroka try to teach you that?"

"She told me not to use it." Esdeath's face was at full blush, her blue eyes trailing away. I snickered once audibly and hooked two fingers under her chin, pulling her in for a chaste kiss.

"I've never sighed like that myself… but I'll bet that I can teach you how."

"… Did you practice that?" she asked, her lips turning at the corniness of my line.

"Absolutely. Kuroka loved it. I shouldn't talk about another woman when I'm with you… but she was between my knees when I used that on her. She choked and fell to the floor laughing at me." Esdeath giggled at that and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I relished her breasts against my chest and their pillowy softness. Still, I returned the hug… and managed to grope her a little in the process. This prompted another giggle from her.

"I'll be sure to hold that over her." She kissed me lightly once, flicking my lips with her tongue. "Now let's hurry up a little, shall we?" Her hands pulled down on my boxers and my manhood stood proud. She stared for a moment before putting on a sultry smile, one that seemingly wasn't practiced, and wrapped her hand around me to jerk me up and down.

After a moment to enjoy the handjob I pulled away her panties away and pushed two of my fingers in, working my magic in her. She smiled a little more and her eyes half closed as she looked at me, prompting another quick round of kissing. Her waist kept shifting on the edge of the bed, her legs slowly closing around the new sensation I was giving her. When her knees finally touched I pulled my hand out and pulled her onto my lap facing me, my dick against her.

"Ready?" I asked. She rolled her eyes in an amused way and moved herself over me, spent a second to put me at her entrance, and fell onto me before she winced and her smile became a grimace of discomfort. I tried some more kissing to distract her while I rubbed her back soothingly. I knew she didn't need it, but I liked to think that she appreciated the gesture regardless. In the meantime I enjoyed how her walls felt around me. They, like the rest of her, felt a bit cold, but enjoyably so. SHe was slicker than Kuroka or Ophis, smoother maybe. It made all sorts of ideas of what to try run through my head.

When she finally rocked on my waist she gasped. "Oh!" She sounded surprised and rocked again. "Oh, that's… nice."

"Nice… my poor ego," I teased her while she kept rocking. I got more active, pulling my hands on her ass with her rocking, helping her go a little faster more smoothly.

"Definitely a new hobby," she muttered absently. I held her steady, stopping the rocking, and thrusted upwards, inciting a groan. So I thrusted some more, searching out her sensitive spots. Her pussy clenched around me and her hands gripped my shoulders hard as she took a deep breath. I chuckled at her first orgasm and leaned back, letting her fall on my chest, her pale blue hair splaying out over me while she had a moment of resting. Then I kept thrusting.

She didn't want me to do all the work and I wanted to show her a great first time so we compromised, finding a rhythm between us. I thrusted and she rocked as my hands explored every curve of her body. Hers stayed around my chest and arms, feeling my muscles. Women and muscles, I swear…

We kept the pattern for a few minutes, enjoying the sensations from each other's bodies. But soon enough I had hit my limit. "I'm going to cum," I said breathily to her. Shs shivered.

"Good," she said before leaning in to kiss me, one hand cupping my face. I moved to roll over and she obliged me, my cock slipping out of her with ease. I lowered myself onto her for a kiss as I groped her once more. I thrust into her a bit more suddenly than before and upped the pace while we battled tongues. Her legs raised to wrap around my back and pull me closer. When I finally came I moved my head to her neck and laid on top of her. She groaned as I painted her depths and rested, lowering her legs and enjoying the afterglow.

When she pushed me off her and I landed on my side I didn't expect her to tip me over to my back. She moved down lower, her ass swaying hypnotically in a way I doubted she noticed, and grasped my cock.

"Ophis and Kuroka told me about this. Fellatio," she said, lowering herself to my dick. "I'm not sure how they could find it so pleasurable. They had a hard time explaining it. It isn't like sex, they say, but it's still… sexual. I want to try it."

"You'll have no arguments from me," I said, still languishing in my orgasm. I was looking at her, but only with one eye, half lidded. I wasn't going to fall asleep, I had too much endurance for that, but I liked the moment of rest.

That was why when Esdeath licked my cock from top to bottom my eyes shot open in surprise at how pleasurable it was, like a jolt running up my spine, making me tense up. Her tongue was cold, as I really should have expected, making a huge contrast from my cock, which was hot and hard. The feeling was utterly different from any blowjob I had gotten before, giving me the refreshing experience of something utterly new.

I relaxed into it as Esdeath worked. She explored what she could do, kissing my tip and flicking her tongue over it, fondling my balls as she laid kisses over my shaft, and seeing how far she could deepthroat me, which was only about halfway down. It was her first time so I had low expectations but being out of my depth was exciting.

I was nearly sinking into the bed as Esdeath put her hands on my thighs, spreading my legs apart and pushing them down, giving her complete access to my cock. Her hair was tucked behind her ears as she slowly lowered her head down, seemingly trying to beat her record. Her tongue caressed my tip and went farther down, tracing the veins and seeing if she could wrap around the whole shaft. I wanted to tell her to go faster but when I looked down her eyes locked onto mine.

Her eyes were cool and surprisingly confident with her inexperience. While she kept trying to take me deeper our eyes never left each other's, making a strange few seconds. When she pulled off of me I blinked in confusion but was rewarded when she bent back down and put her right hand on the half she couldn't take. She experimented a little, finding the right pace and keeping it up.

"Dust, you're some sort of natural," I breathed. That encouraged her as she hummed, sending another shock through me. "I'm close." A light chuckle escaped her, making hot breath brush over my cold dick.

"Good," she said throatily. Her hand took up my shaft while her mouth wrapped tightly over my head and she twisted her head while her tongue went wild over me. I growled and laid my head back with closed eyes. I felt when she added another hand to the mix and took her mouth off of me.

"Cum for me. I have to agree with the others. This is _wonderful_," she purred, the throaty tone still in her voice. She descended once more, her hands wrapping around me a little more tightly and jerking a little harder, and I came. I groaned with Esdeath as she drained me for all I was worth. Her hands stopped jerking me but her mouth went lower. I spent a few seconds coming into her mouth while she waited. When I looked down she was staring at me proudly. She licked her lips and I saw some thin strands of white on her tongue. A finger traced her lips and she swallowed before sucking on the finger once.

It wasn't going to take long for me to get it up again with how sexy that was to see.

"It's the power over you," Esdeath said in explanation to me with a satisfied grin, moving onto my dick once more, her hand caressing it to full mast. "You were helpless before me. Seeing you of all people, somebody who's supposed to be in charge of me, and don't pretend that you aren't at the center of this relationship we have… I think I can go twice more." She dropped onto me, reverse cowgirl this time, and the two of us proved her words wrong. She could go three more times.

**[End lemon]**

**AN: So it wasn't entirely gentle but it was a lot more lovey dovey than the last one. I like it. It's a step in the right direction, though writing rough stuff is more fun for me. It feels like I have more options that way. Getting this scene started in a way that felt natural was pretty difficult. I spent nearly an hour on it. Thanks again, SLM. **


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: This really is a bonus level. I wrote the first part and forgot to write the rest. The Ophis interlude was intended to be scrapped but the muse started talking and if I don't write what she says I can't focus. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 12**= ||||]

[|| =**!BONUS LEVEL!**= ||]

**Love is hard**

Irisai, dragonborn and holder of many other less important or inaccurate titles, was ready to kill her future husband.

She had traveled long, far, and hard. When she used clairvoyance it had pointed her a long, long ways away it seemed. When she had seen the strange machines the people had used to travel the roads she had first attacked it with unrelenting force and threw it on it's side. It had roared and groaned. She assumed that it still lived and threw fireballs at it. It exploded.

The man inside survived, if barely, and she healed him. That was how she learned about cars. After stealing one for herself she had to admit that they were far superior to horses, though she was puzzled that they broke down quite quickly. Then she learned about fuel, which made perfect sense to her. Horses needed food. Petrol, diesel, and those other liquids were the different types of food cars could eat.

Strangely enough nobody thought magic was real where she was, which was odd, but she caught on quickly. If nobody thought magic was real then nobody could say that she had been invisible when she stole all their stuff. The silly superstitions of the peasants of the world were much more to her advantage than in Skyrim. She got some very strange looks in her dragonscale armor and was nearly put in a cell twice. Light, leather armour barring a helmet was apparently acceptable though. She saw some young maidens smoking in similar attire, though they weren't using pipes but rather small white sticks. Well, it was no concern of hers.

The only issue was her husband. He was only sometimes in the world. He appeared often enough that it was clearly his home, and he arrived back in it every night, but he was so, SO far away!

Thus far she had crossed half the world to get to him since half the world was how far away she was _from_ him. Europe had been nice. They spoke common there, thankfully. Asia was much harder to get through. They all spoke different languages and used different currencies. Luckily, gold was a good way to catch anybody's eye. That and thievery. Thievery was a staple trade of any decent adventurer, though she took it above and beyond to the point that she could literally steal the clothes off a person's back, to the awe and confusion of the thieves' guild.

And after such a journey she found that she had to cross a small ocean to get to the nation of Japan, a small island nation much like Solstheim except that it wasn't drowning in ash, though it did have some great hot springs apparently. It was something to look forward to.

Yes, she would finally find her hubby. He would look at her in shock as she, the most beautiful woman in Tamriel, had collected Elder scrolls, dealt with Daedra, crossed oceans, tamed wild cars, and been assaulted by the strange magical staffs of the law several times (they were nothing against the typically useless wards she had learned).

For but a minute she would recite the grand loving words she had recited over and over in preparation to awe him by her fervor in her pursiut of one of the few men she had met that weren't stunned stupid by her beauty, smelled like a pig, were arrogant to the point of demanding her hand in marriage, or as weak as a newborn babe.

He would stride to embrace her, she would greet him happily, and they would kiss in a fiery romance that would have tales about it sung. Yes, she would be the treasured wife, dragonborn hero of the realm of Nirn and slayer of dragons and he the man whose mere servants (and adorable little sister) slew an army of dragons on their wedding day, making a rain of blood solely to honor her in the hopes of her hand.

The day it rained dragon blood was the most beautiful day of her life. She had never realized it but a dead dragon was the greatest gift somebody could give her. An ocean of blood and the souls of countless great dragons? Her husband had slayed an army and given her the spoils. It was a dowry, plain and simple.

But when she finally arrived in Japan after more than two months travel, dealing with obstacles great and small, learning new customs and honing old ones she hadn't practiced in a long time. When she finally arrived in Japan…

"… Sir? What's that way?" She pointed across the ocean calmly crashing against the shore, wetting the soles of her boots.

"Nani?" he grunted. He was an old fisherman out on the docks just casting his line out.

"Sorry, I don't speak Japanese. It's a long story. What lies across this ocean?"

"Fucking American," he swore. "There lies Hawaii. Island like Japan. Past that stupid American land. Now shoo. You scare fish away and my English shit." The crotchety old man turned back to the sea while Irisai looked across the waters, a slow bubbling rage building in her chest. An ominous laughter escaped her as she plotted how to punish her disobedient husband for _RunNinG AWaY FrOM HeR LoVE_!

[|||| =-= ||||]

Maine. He was in Maine.

She was wondering if her husband had some sort of horrible flaw that he was ashamed to show her. First he was in one of the Asiatic countries, leading her all the way over there, and then he moved a little farther East… to Maine. What was even in Maine? Raccoons? Snow?

It was practically Canada. Ever since learning of the strange network made of clouds or a foreign energy called wifi she had learned quite a bit, one of those things being that Americans were rude, gun-toting capitalists and that Canadians were nice, mild-mannered folk that really didn't deserve their rich, unruly neighbors. So why go to Maine of all places? It was the rudeness of Americans combined with the weather of Canada dumped in the middle of nowhere… who lived in _Maine?!_

Whatever the reason for her husband's isolation she would forgive him… probably. A romantic engagement was fine. Divorce was always an option, of course, as was poisoning or a sharp knife, and if he had committed some sort of horrible crime against humanity she wouldn't really care. If he was a troll in disguise she probably _would_ care, but if he could turn into the hunk of man she had burned into her memory most of the time she wouldn't mind so much. She was technically a dragon in the meatsuit of a half elf anyways.

Say, could her hubby give her a dragon body? That would be sweet! Okay, she was totally pissed at him but if he could let her turn into a dragon her love for him would become more than bottomless as it already was. All would be forgiven in a heartbeat. Done deal. She could have crossed the world in like… two weeks if she had Odahviing with her, but flying on her own? Well her husband was a great mage so he could probably do it. No, he could definitely do it and it would be awesome.

But first she had to get there.

Maine was, as expected, full of a whole lot of nothing. It didn't really even have mountains like Skyrim, though it had some tiny ones. It had a fair few rivers and some pretty lakes she drove by, but nothing really outstanding other than nature, and she had seen a lot of nature.

Doing some trickery with a map and clairvoyance when her hubby was home, she figured out that he was somewhere east of a place called Eagle Lake and south of the Deboulle mountain. Needless to say, there was nothing there. At all. Like, she asked a local and he told her perfectly plainly that there was seriously nothing there. It wasn't even a national park. It was just nothing, the epitome of Maine in her opinion.

More travelling ensued. She had to take some backroads and the GPS she stole back in California wasn't all that helpful. Even the spirit inside the little box didn't know much about the back-end of nowhere.

But THERE! She had found it!

Clairvoyance led her down a trail in the woods after going into the middle of nowhere. She had prepared herself with some camping supplies beforehand, already knowing her hubby was a bit of a hermit, and donned the blade of woe, one of her favorite blades, on her back to fend off bears. All of this was in her magical backpack of course. All of her stuff was in it so she didn't worry about having to hijack another car. She could do so freely without leaving any of her valuable stuff behind.

So she trekked, having to hike for a day and a half until she came to the top of a tall hill. And then she saw it.

It was perfect! Beautiful! It was a woodland manor! It's oaken walls were standing tall and proud in the forest around it, a clearing cut to keep nature's grasping hands at bay. It was a house fit for a Jarl, as great as Dragonsreach in her opinion. She knew exactly what her husband had been doing. He had made a house just for her in a land that he had thought would remind her of home, of the snowy north she called home. He was… *sniff* so thoughtful… no she wasn't crying.

After spending a minute wiping some water from her eyes she made her way to the manor. The door was unlocked, as though to welcome her home. She wandered the halls in awe for a minute before she ran into another woman with cat ears in a loose dark purple blouse eating from a plastic bag, her face dusted in some orange powder. She blinked dumbly for a minute at Irisai, the dragonborn dressed in the dragonscale armor she had first met her husband in, her cheeks stuffed with cheetos.

Elsyria looked at the woman and her eyes narrowed in on one thing. The fucking cat ears.

"He has another sister?"

"Whut?"

"Ah, introductions, my apologies. I'm Abyss' wife."

"Oh! Another one for the harem!"

"WHAT?!"

[|||| =-= ||||]

**The Serpent**

Ophis napped. It wasn't complicated.

That wasn't to say that napping itself wasn't complicated; it really was. As she had learned in her few months of napping you needed the right temperature, the right level of ambient magic, the right lighting, and more.

Or you needed Abyss. That worked too, though he sometimes had to leave their bed early or move her head from his lap, thus disrupting her naps. Over her long life she had learned that disturbances to her life, like Great Red or that pale lady in Abyss' former dimension, were to be crushed and the peaceful silence to be cherished. If it annoyed her get rid of it. But she couldn't exactly punish her lover. He was worth a little noise. So in her infinite mercy she allowed him to disrupt her naps… sometimes.

The cat wasn't a problem, though she could be annoying. She simply wanted attention, though, which couldn't be faulted. She wanted the same, after all, though the cat knew that she got first dibs for time with her husband. The demon, the more recent sister of hers, was more troublesome but after rousing a little of her power she quieted down and focused on her husband and hobbies, all inconsequential to Ophis. Her husband was hers first, after all. She had dibs.

Oh, she was also pregnant. She had children before, sorta. Cast-offs of her power that gained sentience were children, right? She had never thought of them as hers and they had come and gone throughout the ages, occasionally toppling a kingdom or crippling a divine pantheon. This child, though, was intended and more importantly, the child was going to be Abyss'. That meant that Abyss would care for their child and care for her more. Kids would also tie him down, something Kuroka and she agreed that he needed.

That they would tie him to her was more important than his stability, though him being happy was pretty important too, at least the cat said so. But most important was that he was hers and she couldn't have him running away or something. Then she wouldn't get her silence back and she would have headaches again and Baka Red would hog the gap and throw noise everywhere while she tried to sleep.

She was actually starting to enjoy being awake now thanks to her mate. So he would stay with her so he could cook for her, keep the cat from irritating her, give her the finest pillows to nap on, and make her chest feel weird when he kissed her or said he loved her. She still hadn't figured out what the feeling was and she had felt a lot of feelings since the dawn of time.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Hey Ophis… wanna play mario kart?" The cat asked. She poked a controller into her face and the dragon god opened one sleepy eye. She considered just sleeping more but she was also kind of hungry.

"Go get me something to eat."

"Here!" She said cheerfully. Ophis was handed a popsicle, one of the orange creamy ones. She took a few bites from it and enjoyed that crunchy taste of the wood with the treat. She handed the rest of the popsicle, the part that was just a stick, to the cat and she tossed it away.

Well she was up now. She may as well entertain the cat. She took the controller and the cat excitedly hit the play button, starting the race. Ophis chose the character that looked like a tiny spiky turtle, momentarily wondering how the cat could have so much energy. Didn't cats like napping and being playful? Actually, some to think of it she did a lot of that. It was just at night and before she went to sleep.

"So what do you think of Esdeath?" The cat jabbered. Her cart got a shell and she almost threw it at Ophis before she reconsidered and tossed it at another cart. Smart.

"She knows her place and she's quiet." Ophis answered.

"Huh so you like her?"

"Abyss likes her."

"Yeah, I guess I'd be a bit sad if she left too. I just don't like the sadism."

"I don't care."

"I don't really either. We both know Abyss doesn't like hurting people, though. He thinks she's actually a really nice person inside but her childhood really screwed her up. It's kinda like his aunt Raven. A really shitty person but he can't help but see family in a good light."

"He tolerates it."

"Uh huh… and she is really, really fun in bed. Abyss doesn't hit hard enough sometimes."

"Be quiet." She finished her first lap. She was in fourth place, the cat in first. The cat was blissfully quiet for a few seconds before she started up again.

"He's going to attract other women, you know. Mates."

"Yes." It was only natural that he would have hanger-ons. He was great.

"How many do you think he'll have?"

"A lot." She had a lot of sycophants too. They just popped up when you had power.

"Duh. I think there'll be about seven or eight, though I'm lowballing it with six. We're up to three so far. I'm up for more. He should start developing time magic, though. If he wants more time so much why not just make it?" Ophis shrugged. "So anyways, you're okay with him getting other women?"

"He's mine." She threw a shell she picked up and took third place. The second lap finished.

"I know, I know, first and foremost he's yours. No argument here. But you don't care if he has a bunch of other kids, loves other women, bangs a TON of women? I'm pretty sure he'll have flings when he gets older. I really want to see him with a salt and pepper beard."

"Hmm," she hadn't thought about it. "Yes, a beard would be nice."

"And the other kids?"

"Other women are temporary. I will exist forever. He will too. If he ignores me I will take action."

"Flings?" She ignored the cat and took second place before being immediately set back to fifth by a banana peel. She felt vague annoyance at the game. "Yeah, don't care at all. Got it. Oh, and I asked Esdeath. She doesn't care if he sleeps with every woman on the planet. Actually, she might feel proud of him. She has this alpha mentality, like me! So we're going to get a bunch of kids for him and I'll probably encourage him to expand his harem. I sorta wish my sister wasn't taken by the Red Dragon Emperor, though. She's missing out."

Ophis ignored the cat's words and fell sideways onto her lap. It was soft under her head. She was asleep a moment later. When she woke up the cat had somehow slipped out. Not having the silence made her less important so she missed her leave. Still, the pillow under her head was an acceptable apology.

Oh, it was eight o'clock. Abyss was coming back to her now. Good, she wanted kisses and lovemaking. Lots of lovemaking.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Though the vampire apocalypse world used here is self-made it was heavily inspired by Julie Kagawa's Immortal Blood series, a somewhat generic series of romance novels that I read for fun once because she wrote a good series about fey. Like, the murdery English ones that hunted humans for sport. Besides the Twilight type of teen romance it was pretty good. I liked the classic vibes from it and the Rick Riordan-esque modern mythology. **

**The next world isn't Worm, by the way, if you were thinking that mentioning it was me dropping a hint or something. I tried to make a chapter based around Worm… twice. I dropped both drafts and made something else since it just didn't want to be written. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 13**= ||||]

"So where do you want to go first?" I asked Esdeath, cooking up breakfast burritos for my girlfriends, though Ophis and Kuroka were still sleeping. It turned out that Esdeath was an early riser.

"Hm… I don't truly care so long as I can fight. I would appreciate it if you could provide some advice on how to get stronger as well." She was currently reclining on one of the dining chairs that I and the others only rarely used. Kuroka's apartment didn't have a dining set so we just ate on the couch there and the habit stuck.

"Well I've been thinking about going to a world I've designated as Worm. I take most of my selection of worlds from pieces of fiction I read or see and look for a world with similar functioning rules and a matching setting."

"You draw your worlds to travel to from stories?" Esdeath seemed fascinated by this. "Is that how you came to my world?"

"No. I looked into the greater void and requested a world that would amuse me. I appeared a little southeast of the palace, which is when I broke in. Now that was fun." I smiled at the memory as I tossed a few tortillas in the microwave.

"Hm. And what of this Worm world?"

"It's a… you know I should get you caught up on the popular culture of this world. It's where I've collected most of my destinations. It's a somewhat dark world, dystopian like yours with a dysfunctional government, but it's not quite corruption that's bringing it down. See, an outside entity - a world traveller in a different sense than I - entered the world and spread it's power through the world and it's connected worlds. People with strange abilities appeared after experiencing trauma. The first few went out to fight crime and the trend caught on with some of them aiming for something outside the law and others trying to enforce it either as a vigilante or with government sanction."

"Fascinating." She said, seeming to mean it.

"A whole subculture appeared from the trend and the people with powers, which are called capes for short. Customs like getting a unique mode of dress, acting heroic or comedic in line with some stereotypes, and the media of that world - including something called the internet which I need to teach you about - became ridden with capes."

"Again, fascinating, but how strong are they?" This prompted an eye roll from me.

"It varies. Some of the strongest are people like a man who acts under the monicker of Legend. He can turn into light and shoot beams that do a variety of things such as freezing, burning, exploding, disintegrating, and more. Some of the weakest are normal humans, untrained civilians, who can shoot a blast of sound or spit acid or throw a little lightning. They're the majority, though due to the nature of the powers there are some people who are outliers. They can simulate timelines or build teigu-like weapons, though that doesn't mean they can use them."

"So it's more than simple brute strength." She said in realization.

"Exactly! Which is why I want you to go there. You have a lot of brute strength but there is quite a lot there that can't be solved with simple strength. You need cunning to get by there no matter how strong you are."

"I can see the reason in that." She agreed.

"I mean, there's a hundred and one other worlds we could go to but I'd like to go somewhere where brute strength isn't everything for once. Oh, but I have to ask you something first. Do you know calculus? The structure of the solar system? Chemistry?" Esdeath was silent. "I thought so. You're a warrior and things like that were never needed besides what you used to manage your armies. But things like science are useful and you're going to be put into a lot of situations where being uneducated in some areas will cause a lot of trouble. Most universes with decent technology and an organized government have standardized learning where children learn math, science, language, and whatever else is needed."

"I'm not a scholar." It was a statement of fact. Not a protest. I looked down at the scrambled eggs and chorizo I was heating up and decided to take them off. They were ready for eating now.

"Neither is Kuroka but she knows what atomic theory is and how to chart a chemical equation despite losing her parents when she was young and being enslaved. Education is important in most any world no matter how lawless. You don't need to be a scholar but you do need to be educated, at least to the level of this world. You'll be spending a lot of time here since you live in this world now. Adapting to fit some of it's higher standards is necessary."

"Alright," She didn't look happy to need to learn. I could understand that. She's with me for me and to fight and grow stronger. Needing to learn things she'd never had a use for was not what she was expecting. "But how will I learn this science?"

"I can tutor you through a K through twelve program. That's what most people learn through," I shrugged. She perked up, the idea of learning with me probably more appealing than doing so alone. "I'd like to work on your magic as well. The ice demon blood is still harboring it's independence. I'd like to assimilate it's soul into you more than it already is. You should be able to cultivate a higher level of ice magic after the power of the demon blood becomes truly yours and not an extension of you."

Esdeath said nothing since I had just handed her one of the finished breakfast burritos. She took one bite and decided to eat in silence, enjoying the good food. I took mine in hand and walked to my workshop where my computer was. I needed to print out a bunch of worksheets and see how Esdeath did on them. It would help me figure out where to fill in her knowledge.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Oh no… it's worse than I thought." I said sadly.

"What?" Esdeath asked, sitting at a part of the counter of my workshop I had cleared off.

"Let me see," Kuroka stepped close to me and looked at the test results. She had insisted on playing assistant teacher. I thought she just wanted to do some kinky stuff and distract us both but after extracting a promise that she would actually help and not just use the class for sex she had been a it helpful. "Oh… oh. Yeah, that's not very good."

"What?!"

"Algebra one? I mean, she got some of the questions. We might have to redo that."

"Well she got biology pretty well."

"Nothing on cell theory. Well, she got one or two questions. I think she picked up some stuff from Doctor Stylish. I spied on him once. He's a genius for a medieval world but a hack as a proper scientist. His notes were a mess and-"

"What is wrong with my grades?!"

"Nothing."

"Your world had, like, no schooling, did it?"

"No. It didn't." Esdeath's tone was getting a little dangerous. I don't think she liked how we were calling her a bit stupid.

"Sorry, sorry," I said, trying to calm her down. "You've got a solid foundation but what was advanced for your world is basic here."

"How basic?" I winced. "Abyss. How. Bad. Is. It." I hated that tone.

"A thirteen year old could outsmart you." Kuroka put it bluntly.

"WHAT?!" She seemed furious. The temperature of the room dropped by nearly ten degrees. Kuroka shivered and edged a little closer to me.

"Well you've got the basics of math and you're surprisingly well-versed in anatomy. With a little cell theory and work on bacteria, viruses, and a health class you'll be set there," I said, trying to cool her anger. It worked a little. "As for physics, moderately advanced mathematics, chemistry, English, geometry, and magic theory you're behind or have no grounding at all in it."

"Wait, magic theory? That's not on a standard curriculum." Kuroka said, confused.

"I wrote up a twenty question test on the basics." I told her.

"What, like magic circles and stuff?"

"Why would Esdeath use magic circle? I used affinity, aura, mana, soul theory, and quantum physics."

"That's not the stuff I learned."

"Your magic focuses on normal stuff. Esdeath's magic is abnormal so I'm teaching her the core principals I've discovered and applying them. Do you expect her to use the mathematics based magic magicians use here?"

"Good point."

"I'm still here." Esdeath fumed, looking anything but pleased. I came up with a brilliant solution to calm her down.

"Don't worry, there's an upside to this," She looked at me dangerously. "This means we get to spend more time together. Kuroka will get bored and ditch soon enough."

"You know me so well…"

"That's true," Esdeath said grudgingly. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult me and my education."

"We're not trying to insult you," I explained. I looked meaningfully at Kuroka. She looked away with a blush. "We're trying to figure out how best to show you more advanced topics than your world ever dreamed of." She seemed mollified by that and went back to the interest she had before.

"Now let me just get an algebra textbook. I'd rather get through the hard stuff quickly. Math is my least favorite subject. An algebra two level of mathematics if enough since we have calculators. It's all I have anyways."

"Wait, you only got to algebra two?" Kuroka grinned at me. I nodded. "Oh, you poor fool. Behold! I got all the way to pre-calculus!"

"Have fun plotting triangles."

"Ugh. never again. I like physics, though."

"Oh, physics are nice. I don't like the big formulas, though. I always relied on my sister for that stuff. The theoretical work is fascinating, on the other hand."

"Like quantum stuff?"

"Exactly. Applying it to magic has been a big help to me in understanding what makes affinity a catalyst for mana and magical effects." I noticed Esdeath looking frustrated at not being able to join in on the conversation, not knowing what we were talking about.

Good. It would provide more incentive to learn. I didn't want to stay behind teaching her when I could be travelling worlds any more than she wanted to stay behind and learn when she could be fighting.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"You have to flip the X squared. Criss-cross, remember? Divide on both sides."

"Oh, to get Y?"

"Exactly. With Y you can plug it in to get X." Esdeath nodded and returned to her work. I continued testing repeated exposure to corruption affinity on Akame, her body comatose on a surgical table in a hospital blouse. I had a hundred of the things I had stolen when I was setting up the house. I would wake her up eventually. For now I was testing her aura when it was in a neutral state, not affected by her conscious control over it.

So far her aura had been unusually receptive to corruption, especially when she had murasame in her hand, though the teigu slowly drained her soul and used the aura it gained to fuel itself and make her body function better than the norm, which explained why people with teigu were physically superior to those without.

The sword also collected corruption affinity to itself all the time, making it easy to harvest for me. Incrusio collected adapt affinity, as I had found out. It was also sentient, as I had made it's soul lash out at me after poking it with my own like twenty times. I hadn't touched it since. Akame and murasame were more interesting and I wanted to see if she was up for being my research assistant.

"WHAT?!" I winced at the interruption to my research, though my eyes widened when I realized I didn't recognize the voice. Esdeath realized this as well and grabbed her rapier excitedly and ran to the door, though I was faster and had my halberd out instead of my sword. It was more suitable for the narrow hallway.

I pivoted and pointed the pointy end at the intruder of my house and then froze. "Irisai?" The beautiful half elf stiffened and turned to me, a beautific smile on her face.

"Abyss!" Then her eyes looked at the halberd and her smile faded. "Why are you pointing a weapon at me?"

"You're in my home."

"Oh, wait, trespassing? But the door was open."

"We're in the middle of nowhere. Of course it's open!"

"Tell me about it! Actually, don't. I already-"

"You know her?" Kuroka asked from behind the dragonborn.

"We met once," I answered. I put my weapon back in my soul space. "What I want to know is how in the world you're here?" Irisai smirked.

"Beloved!" I winced as Kuroka's smirk split her face. "I have travelled the land in search of you! As you left my heart wept in your absence! Distraught and hopelessly in love with you I ignored the advice of my peers, for I knew my feelings were just, and went on a perilous journey in search of you!" I was suffering. Esdeath was staring a burning hole into the back of my skull while Kuroka looked like she wanted to do a dance.

"I traveled far and wide! I scoured Tamriel for two treasures, scrolls of unparalleled magics, and traded them to the demon Hermaeus Mora for but a chance to meet your eyes again! I crossed the badlands of Europe, the wretched plains of Asia, and crossed the sea to Japan just to cross ANOTHER ocean and ANOTHER land to see you!" Something about her voice indicated extreme annoyance, though she sounded really happy. It was strange. 

"But none of that matters now! For we are together now forever and always!" She took a few steps towards me, throwing her helmet off and letting her golden hair loose as she looked towards me with a gentle smile, showing off pearly white teeth. "And then I find out you have a HAREM YOU PROMISCUOUS BASTARD'S SPAWN!" She leapt towards me as her eyes filled with rage, her fist rocketing towards my face. I ducked under it and threw her over me. She turned over my shoulder and swung her arms around my neck with an unexpected amount of agility considering that she was in armour that didn't look very flexible.

"I CROSSED TWO OCEANS, THREE LANDS, SEARCHED SKYRIM, BEAT A BLIND OLD MAN, AND TRAVELLED A REALM TO SEE YOU AND YOU'RE WITH SOME LOOSE WOMEN?!" I broke her guard and pushed her aside. Esdeath didn't look amused.

"Hey! I'm not-"

"SHUTUP!" Irisai demanded. Kuroka looked kind of offended and seemed to find the situation suddenly less humorous.

"Irisai, don't be rude. Yelling at everyone is accomplishing nothing." I told her calmly. She met my eyes again, clear anger apparent in them. Magic was thick in the air, the dragonborn's soul full of snarls and fire.

"Rude?!" She snapped, thankfully lowering her voice a little. "Do you have any idea just how much I've done to see you again?!"

"A little." I said, keeping my calm, though Kuroka and Esdeath looked kind of annoyed that she was speaking so rudely with me. I noticed Ophis walk up behind Kuroka and watch the scene with a frown.

"Then you can understand how I'm a TINY bit annoyed right now?!" She pinched her fingers together for emphasis.

"I can. However, to my eyes and the eyes of my three girlfriends it looks like a stranger barged into my house, insulted Kuroka, and tried to punch me." Irisai cooled down a little and looked a little ashamed of herself. Just a little. She was mostly unashamed.

"Fine," She huffed. "We'll talk about why you're running around with other women like civilised people. Does your manor have a meeting room?" I pointed and she walked off towards my dining room.

"Sooo she's not… I mean I can get if you slept with some other women before us but what's up with her?" Kuroka asked, looking annoyed for once.

"We had a drink once and killed some dragons. She's got a dragon's soul and a human body. Well, actually she's half-elf. From what I can understand she sold some artifacts to a dark god of knowledge of her land and had to stumble around this world trying to find me. Who knows how she even did that. Ah, shit. I was warned about this." I grimaced, recalling Odahviing's words as we parted ways.

"_Kiir (child), you truly do not know Irisia. She chased me across Skyrim, Elsweyr, and down to the Summerset Isles out of sheer stubbornness to not let me escape her and claim another dragon to take her to this temple. If you are within reach she will meet with you somehow, though I know not how. She may give up courting you but this will not be the last you see of her. You intrigue her. You may escape Tamriel but you cannot escape Irisaai. Even if she has to share, though she will not do so happily."_

"_Fucking perfect. I got a stalker."_

"Yeah, I was warned about her pursuing me. One of her close friends said she might give up or share but that neither would be easy. She's apparently extremely stubborn."

"I don't like her. She's loud," Ophis commented from behind Kuroka. "She is kin, though. A dragon."

"Dragons," Esdeath scoffed. "I had to torture the one I broke for three days before he submitted to me. They're prideful, temperamental, impulsive, selfish, and as you said, stubborn to the extreme. However, they are strong and defend their own with tenacity. Perhaps this Irisai is the same."

"If we're all giving our opinions I don't like her but I get where she's coming from. I'd be pissed if I crossed the world to find you with some other women… well, if we were in an exclusive - you get the idea." Kuroka said, her scowl more of a frown right now. I held off another sigh. It was getting a bit repetitive for me. That didn't mean I didn't want to sigh, though.

"Let's just go deal with her. I'll try to explain everything. Maybe she'll give up, er, courting me?" It sounded idealistic to me. Judging by the expressions around me everyone else thought the same. I shrugged and walked to the dining room. Irisai was sitting with an annoyed expression beside the head of the table. I sat across from her, my girlfriends filling in around me.

"So let's get down to this. Why do you think I'm your husband?"

"Your wedding gift." Irisai said simply.

"Wedding gift?"

"Dragons blood rained from the skies, your companions slaying them with ease while you sat beside me, charming me as we enjoyed the carnage. I absorbed a thousand dragon souls that day. Well actually almost six hundred but that's beside the point."

"That sounds fun." Esdeath muttered fondly beside me.

"That wasn't a wedding gift. I just needed a dragon soul." I pointed out.

"So? You're the only decent man I've ever come across and you've given me a dowry worthy of gods by slaying the children of Akatosh, granting me the spoils. You can't give a dragonborn an army of dragon souls because you needed one single soul."

I frowned. "I'm with three other women."

"So? Ditch them." My girlfriends instantly glared at her, even Ophis.

"You think I'm a decent man who would ditch three girlfriends because you said to?" Irisai frowned.

"That's true," She agreed. "You wouldn't be the man I thought you were if you did that. Does that mean I have to duel for your hand? It's traditionally the man's job, I know, but you're not exactly fighting for my hand. I'm fighting for yours."

"No. I have no intention of leaving my girlfriends and, though Kuroka thinks I will end up with more women, I really don't want to spend all my time with multiple wives. I like having free time. Besides, Kuroka and Ophis are pregnant. We aren't married yet since, as I said, I might end up with more women according to Kuroka and I'm having a hard time disagreeing with her, but I am married in all but formalities. Besides, I barely know you." Irisai scowled.

"I see," She muttered. "I can't get rid of your current lovers. I understand… I don't want to share, though."

"Well I'm sorry that you don't. I had no intention of proposing to you. I didn't realize you took my gift as such. If you want I can send you back to Skyrim." She shook her head. 

"I still intend to pursue you," She pointed out stubbornly. "In Tamriel everyone just wants to marry me for some stupid reason or make me solve their problems."

"And now you meet the one guy who isn't stunned by your beauty and you want to marry him?" She nodded, not blushing at all at my mention of her beauty. She was courted by an emperor and a lot of other, less important people, wasn't she? I wasn't paying a lot of attention when we first met. I was more focused on my sister kicking dragon ass.

"Well great," I sighed. "Look, I'm not going to be responsible for you. I didn't ask for you to come after me and I'm busy teaching Esdeath to a reasonable standard for this world. I don't mind giving you some piles of gold or something since wealth is just about infinite for me but my time is one of the most valuable things I have. I'm tempted to send you back to Nirn regardless of your wishes just so I don't have to deal with… this." I waved my hand at all of us at the table.

"Fine… but what do I do if not try to court you?"

"I don't know nor care much," I said bluntly. "If you want I can set you up with some servants of mine and they can get you some jobs. But you can't sit in my house and bother me. You're a strong, independent woman. Figure out for yourself what you want."

"Other than a husband?"

"Yes. You know that there's a whole world of men out there?" Irisai scoffed.

"The commoners? They don't even know that magic exists!"

"Not them. There's a number of magicians and devils and so forth that practice magic greater than any Nirnian mage." Isisai seemed a little interested in this.

"Like what you and your companions used?"

"Only a few people use aura, better known here as touki, but there are some people who saw civilizations end and have the power to destroy cities. There's also dragons more powerful than Alduin." At that she seemed interested.

"… If I were to work with these servants of yours how would I be paid? You've already offered wealth freely." Oh, I saw what she was getting at.

"Power? Knowledge? Belongings of yours from-"

"Personal time with you." She said bluntly. I groaned.

"You know what? Fine. Work with them and I'll give you two hours with me a week at a place of your choice. But I want you to teach my servants martial disciplines firstly. How good a thief or assassin are you? Are you a nightingale?"

"I've been robbing men blind since I was a whelp! One of the best in Skyrim!" She bragged.

"Then make me a shadow corps too. Thievery, sabotage, information gathering, and assassination."

"I can do that!" She seemed eager for my approval. I was glad that the bitchiness had disappeared but she had the same feeling to her as Elsyria. It was that sort of fervor, an obsession of sorts. She would fit in well with my religious group.

"Then go, and make me proud." I opened a portal beside her, internally retching a bit at my corny line, but Irisai ate it up and walked on through.

"Who… My lord?" Elsyria's voice asked from behind the portal. I got out of my chair in front of it.

"This is Irisai. She will be working with you to train my followers in martial pursuits and more… dishonorable purposes. Let it be known that both are equally accepted to me and shift my servants back more towards power and combat now that we have a stable supply of wealth. I don't have anywhere to crusade for now but I'm sure I will soon. The cult will need it's own power as well for legitimacy." I didn't think that I would need a martial power behind me, I could handle most of that myself, but I couldn't be everywhere at once. Sooner or later trouble was going to come, as it always did, and I would be better served sending a small army than wasting time dealing with it myself.

"Great! Thank you, my lord! I'm sure everyone will be happy to stop with the boring stuff!" She turned to Irisai with a wide grin and I closed the portal, letting the crazies work things out between themselves.

"Thank dust that's over with," I sat heavily back down onto my chair. "So where were we?" I looked at my girlfriends to see varying degrees of happiness.

"You were too soft with her." Esdeath said angrily.

"I don't like her either, you know? Better that she's solving my problems than being one, though."

"You should have made her quiet." Ophis agreed with Esdeath. I think she just suggested I kill her?

"I think you did fine." Kuroka said supportively. "But can I fight her next time? She yelled at me and was honestly pretty rude."

"I nearly stabbed her when she told us to 'ditch him'." Esdeath said to her.

"I'm fine with you three-two, you two sparring with her. Not you." I looked suspiciously at Ophis, wondering if she was plotting Irisai's death. She had her emotionless face on and blinked at me slowly, betraying nothing.

"What?! Ophis-chan should _totally_ spar with the crazy dragon chick!" Kuroka said playfully.

"A friendly spar, nothing more." Esdeath agreed, getting in on it.

"Hmm… if you insist." Ophis said in monotone.

"I'll make cookies." I bargained.

"Two dozen." She said.

"Six sugar cookies and six chocolate chip."

"Six more chocolate chip and ice cream."

"Whipped cream and the cookies."

"Deal." I nodded in satisfaction at the deal we had struck while Ophis seemed pleased as well.

"So no accidents while sparring?" Esdeath seemed disappointed.

"Is not seeing blood for two weeks getting to you?" I teased.

"Yes!"

"Then it must be a failure on my part that you're so pent-up." I said slyly. Esdeath blushed but still grinned.

"I think you mean our part." Kuroka commented.

"I'll sit this one out." Ophis said, ignoring our wordplays.

"I could go to let out some tension." Esdeath teased.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"… We got most of it." I muttered, looking over Esdeath's new scores on a similar test to the one I had given her about a month ago. We were alone this time, Ophis sleeping her days away and managing the Khaos Brigade and Kuroka watching her sister's latest ice-cream date with Issei Hyoudou. It turned out that he was actually dating now that he had no imminent dangers to him or… anyone.

With me lurking in the shadows after massacring the Old Satan faction, the Khaos Brigade doing the same, nobody was making any big movements out of caution to break the stalemate the factions had found themselves in. It was wonderful… it'll be broken soon as some ass stirs shit up but it was nice for now. I had a few more months of silence, probably.

"What did I get?" Esdeath asked eagerly.

"A thirty-eight percent," I said. She paused and returned to sulking in her chair. "Hey, cheer up. Last month you were almost entirely uninformed on all this. This is a whole lot better than a sixteen. Besides, you're getting a comprehensive education, not a crash course. These things take time, which is one of the few things we happen to have a lot of now."

"I don't want to take my time." She growled, an opinion I had heard from her a few times before.

"I think you mean you want action," Her silence was telling. I sighed, trying to think of a solution to her boredom. "Want to go kill something?" That got her interest.

"What sort of something?" She asked.

"… Killing time?" I said innocently. She glared at me. "Fine, fine. Lets go kill some… I dunno, vampires. Apocalypse worlds are easy to find."

"Vampires?… Alright," She grabbed her rapier from next to her, she never let it out of her sight, and checked over her dress. She only had a blouse on. "I'm ready." She told me. I eyed her up and down skeptically.

"Uh huh."

"I don't want blood on my clothes. Frankly I don't even need this if we're the only ones there." She pinched her blouse while I wondered when my life had gotten so sexy. Had DxD contaminated me? Was it always this way and had only changed when I became a teenager? Was it Kuroka?

"Whatever." I opened a portal assisted by void to the nearest vampire apocalypse world. It had some humans in it but not many. I didn't consider them a factor and just chose the first one that wasn't too dangerous. I immediately met a withered, bony thing with a drawn back face and bat-like ears. It screeched and an icicle went through it's forehead.

"I've seen uglier. And louder." Esdeath said, a somewhat bloodthirsty smile on her face.

"You really needed this, didn't you?" I asked. I looked around to see a worn road and a lot of hot desert. There were even a few cacti in sight.

"Oh, _yes_." She purred, turning a little to her right where a cacophony of screeches was easily heard in the distance.

"Go nuts. Just don't get bitten or get blood in your wounds. Also, there's real vampires about but you won't see any here. Probably." I said, wandering away. Esdeath wasn't even listening, already laughing madly and facing a horde of vampires. No doubt she'd go looking for more after this was over. I could find her from anywhere. She was technically one of my followers, though I didn't allow her void or anything besides a miniscule boost to her ice affinity. They just mucked up her magic according to her.

I strolled along the cracked roads for about ten minutes before I sensed an aura signature approaching me about a mile away. Just one. I folded my ears down in case it was a human and summoned a backpack, an ordinary (if high quality) metal sabre, and a long rifle over my shirt and pants. Why not fit in? It was best to make it a habit. While walking I looked at the soul.

It had the blood and consumption affinities. They were both innate, sort of winding together as they modified the body but both were very weak. So it was a type of vampire, obviously. But what observe didn't tell me was how the affinities were stronger in the body than the soul and that the person's aura wasn't even awakened, nor was their mana holding the sort of fresh feel that mages had. I thought through a few hypotheses and decided to meet the person and get more information close-up talking to them than stalk them. Why not? This was an apocalypse world. People help people in them sometimes and lone wanderers aren't often aggressors.

As I came closer to the person, who seemed to be a young woman, I looked over their appearance. They were a hell of a lot more bloodstained than me, their black tight shirt looking a dark red except for a few small spots here and there. Their pants were no better, looking torn at one leg. They also had a short katana at their waist, a wakizashi I think.

The moment she saw me the woman froze, shivering and swaying back where she came and towards me. I waved at her and she looked back up and down the road before approaching me. It took a minute before we got close to each other. Neither of us shouted to each other when we clearly could have.

"Not often you see a vampire alone." I said warmly when we were just six steps away from each other. The woman's eyes widened and her wakizashi flew out as she lunged at me. I leaned out of her strike, which was a sloppy, unstable thing, and kicked her back to get her away from me. She stumbled and turned while I cleanly took out my rifle and chambered a round audibly, aiming right between her eyes. She froze, her eyes wide and her breath quick.

I slowly lowered my rifle and put the butt onto the road. "Care for a meal? I've got blood to spare and a lot of time left to travel." The woman was silent.

"What?" She breathed. I wondered why she was breathing so heavily when we had one brief engagement.

"I didn't mean to startle you and I'm lonely," I explained. "I don't mind sharing some blood if you're alright not killing me. Besides, you look like you have a story to tell."

"I… okay." She still seemed confused.

"Great!" I said, acting more enthusiastic than I was. I turned around, a clear show of trust I knew, and walked off the road, going to a rock big enough for us both to sit on. I heard the vampire hesitate before following me. I knew she was eyeing my neck but ignored it, dusting off the rock and sitting down. I took a plastic cup from my backpack, that is to say soul space, and a really sharp knife.

"Wait, wait, wait! I can just… drink from your wrist, you know?" The vampire offered a little frantically.

"Wha-? Oh! I'm not cutting myself open. I just have a hell of a time getting this bottle open." The girl was speechless as I took a red bottle out of my pack and popped the cork with the knife.

"Um, thanks?" She said confusedly as I poured her a glass of blood. It wasn't mine. I had collected blood long ago from some of my first test subjects, gangsters from Vacuo, for analysis. I just had some in store that I never used or got rid of. It just took up space in one of the refrigerators in my lab. I did make sure to heat it up to room temperature before serving it. The vampire took a sip and hummed in surprise.

"What's this?!" She asked.

"Blood. Specifically a concoction of the blood of some really healthy people that I transport to trade to vampires. Most of it is mine but I come across one person or another in desperate times occasionally. If they're healthy I offer to give them some stuff in exchange for blood. Vampires like you love it. It's like a cocktail to you all."

"How do you keep it cool?! It doesn't have that gross expired taste!"

"I use cold washcloths, ice when I have it, and some really good thermoses. It's easier than you'd think."

"Do you sell?!" She asked eagerly.

"My livelihood? Of course not! Well, not the thermoses but I'd be happy to sell some blood if you have anything to trade." The girl depressed.

"Oh."

"Yeah, you clearly have nothing."

"No need to rub it in."

"You're still getting a glass of blood."

"Yeah…" She looked sadly at her glass, which she morosely took another sip from, and gave me some puppy eyes.

"No. Anyways, why are you on the road? You seem like you have some interesting tales to tell."

"I'll trade for a glass." She bargained.

"Granted. It's right there. Now stop trying to scam me and spill." I said with less friendliness.

"Ugh, fine. I'm from Seattle. I'm heading towards San Diego, though I'll get going towards Phoenix pretty soon after that."

"That's a long journey. Seen some interesting stuff?"

"Oh, plenty! You know that they actually managed to make AI in Salem, Oregon?"

"Wait, really?!"

[|||| =-= ||||]

I talked with the vampire girl for about an hour, maybe a little longer. I traded two more glasses for conversation but the second was nearly unnecessary. It seemed like the girl, who was named Helena, was looking for her 'sire', a cliche if I ever saw one. But then she explained that he was a messed up psycho who went after young girls, had his way with them, turned them, and did so again. I gave her a pistol with a smile and claimed it was my spare after she cried a little. I was a sucker for girls, sure, but it wasn't like a pistol was a lot for me to get rid of. I had hundreds of the things from practicing metalworking. Besides, I put a little marker of void and my aura on the gun so I could track it and possibly find the adorable vampire girl again.

Besides that AI in Oregon, which managed a city-state that preached vampire and human equality, there was also apparently a tiny bit of magic here, though only Helena and a few others knew it existed. It wasn't much but a few tales of forcefields and wide-eyed whispers of somebody throwing a fireball at her had me show off a tiny flame of my own.

I just couldn't resist. It was worth it when she asked me a hundred and one questions enthusiastically. I liked being a teacher and I was proud of the knowledge of magic I had worked and studied for. Esdeath wasn't the most enthusiastic of students and I had to push her to learn sometimes. Having somebody so energetic about magic was nice and worth the blood I gave her.

After a while, though, I bid her farewell and she cheerily waved goodbye, her coat around her waist since she realized that only a vampire would wear a coat in the desert. I killed a few of the 'bloodspawn', the crazy feral vampires, and Esdeath approached me not long after, absolutely covered in blood and a very satisfied smile on her face. Only a little of the liquid was above her collar, though.

"Have fun?" I asked.

"They're weak but they scream wonderfully. I even found a wolf infected by this virus." She purred, reaching out to hug me. I teleported her above a lake in an abandoned world and threw a bar of soap at her when she resurfaced from her abrupt swim, her wet hair over her face, blinding her. I wasn't going to bring that infected blood back, starting a vampire-pocalypse in DxD. The mess of a world that had become my home had enough problems as it was.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: There's a few concerns to address. Namely Irisai, the harem, Worm, and characterization of Esdeath. **

**Firstly, Irisai. Some people like her, some people don't. That's good because I like where she's going but as of her first introduction? Absolute bitch. That was intended. She's got some serious issues, being the crazy kleptomaniac daredevil dragonborn we've all played as. This means she gets character development. **

**Now the harem. I'm not railroading it. Ever. If I'm doing it I'm doing it properly, which means slowly characterizing the girls and making them each unique and distinct. Most people just toss in like ten girls and they get sidelined. This is, of course, unacceptable. Polyamorous relationships take commitment, honesty, a forward way of thinking, and a LOT of trust. That doesn't build up over time and to do the relationship otherwise is fantasy, not that the idea of a stable polygamous relationship isn't a bit fantastical itself. **

**Now for Esdeath's characterization. The way I see her she's a warrior firstly and a seriously sadistic one but I've never really considered her to be pure evil. In the anime/manga she clearly had feelings other than 'I should torture some innocent peasants'. **

**She cared for Tatsumi, of course, and she actually gave him a fair bit of freedom as her unwilling lover, not really forcing him into anything. She also cared for her army somewhat but that's a bit murky since she eventually killed them all when she dropped a Russian winter on the Empire and killed loads of people. **

**Point is, she's a terrible, horrible person but not pure evil. Bringing out the love and kindness and all the mushy things in her is a long and difficult job. She's still 100% cruel and violent but she's had less opportunity to express that being suck at Abyss' house. Nobody spends every day massacring armies, you know? **

**Finally Worm. This isn't really a concern, more of a positive note to leave off on. You all seem excited for it so I'll try and do it well. It's a world where strength doesn't fix everything and that's going to be fun to explore in relation to Abyss. There will be escalation… **

[|||| =**LEVEL 14**= ||||]

"Three, two, one，" I counted down. Then I sent the pulse of electricity down into Akame's chest. The girl's eyes jolted open and she opened her mouth, only to close it a moment after. I gave her a moment as her throat opened up and she took in a few deep gasps of air. After a little time recovering she looked up and saw me.

Her posture changed to defensive and hostile and she tried to move away from me. Her knee hit the edge of the medical table and I saw it clatter ominously.

"Hey, wait, sto-" Akame yelped as the table fell over on top of her and she landed on the floor. The thin paper I'd put on the table fell over her and her hospital gown.

"W-wha… " Her face looked pained and I realized that her throat must be incredibly dry. I had been using an IV to keep her alive while in my magical medical coma. Doing anything besides soft consonant sounds would be hard.

"Here." I conjured a glass of water and handed it to her. She eyed it distrustfully for a moment before taking it, probably assuming that I'd have poisoned her already if I was going to, seeing as she'd been asleep. I pulled a chair over while she drank, the glass filling itself up whenever she drained it.

"Food," she rasped. I nodded and looked around my lab. I had a few bags of tortilla chips in the corner. I pushed my swivel chair over and tossed the bag to her and pulled another bag and some salsa from the kitchen with motion affinity. I just opened the door and the snacks assembled in front of her while she tore into my food ravenously.

"You shouldn't be that hungry. The IV had enough nutrients and you were hardly using many calories," I thought out loud.

"Empty stomach," she slipped out before continuing her assault on chips.

"Oh," I summoned some leftover mashed potatoes in a tupperware from the fridge and heated them up before tossing them to her with a spoon. She left them alone for now but eyed them hungrily. I didn't think they'd last long but I leaned back and gave her a minute while I read a book.

"Gravy?" she asked after a minute of eating a bit noisily.

"Not on those. I put some herbs and spices like pepper and- " She was already digging in when I looked up. I went quiet and returned to reading. When the spoon had been scraping against the sides of the tupperware for the past few minutes I heard her sigh sadly.

"Why am I here?" she asked coldly after a breather.

"Your connection to murasame is interesting and it greatly resembles the magic a close friend of mine was infected with. When you used that trump card, cutting yourself with your sword, you changed to something other than human and your soul warped strangely. But people with that particular magical element in them die. I once ran tests of magic on human subjects. I don't typically do so anymore since what I study doesn't really coincide with normal humans but anyways, a man I injected that magical affinity into died horribly. His veins turned black, his soul writhed and coursed as his inner affinities clashed chaotically, and I euthanized him before he died a terrible death. People with a lower dosage had wracking pains and conflict in their affinities that never quite healed without a lot of my intervention. You got a larger dose from your soul and came out smelling like roses."

Akame was silent for a moment. "Murasame chose me," she said simply.

"No it didn't," I corrected her. "Incrusio chose the big guy, Bulat. The ice demon chose Esdeath, or she chose it and forced it to submit. Murasame has no will. It doesn't have a soul. To be self-determining you need a soul. Sure, affinity collections like the kind in murasame can have a determination for one purpose or another but it needs to have that assigned to it, which is what makes an enchantment, albeit a weak one without mana or aura, which you teigu-wielders supply to your weapons. So what I want to know is why that sword was waiting for you, or to be specific, people like you since you're somehow capable of wielding a mass of affinity that should by all rights kill you in a few grisly, painful seconds."

"It chose me," she said stubbornly.

"No it didn't."

"Yes it did."

"It has no will."

"So?"

"So it can't make decisions."

"No. It chose me. It made that decision. So you're wrong," she said it plainly. Her blunt refusal pissed me off a little bit.

"How do you know that it chose you?" I changed tactics.

"I feel it. Murasame doesn't like other people. It kills them."

"Then why does it like you? It doesn't think."

"I kill people. It likes that." I paused.

"That doesn't make sense," I said plainly. "It, and I can't stress this enough, CANNOT like or hate or choose. There is an element of you, a tangible thing, that appeals to it and changes you to not die or come into conflict when you use it. It's programmed to 'like' you and it's reaction to any other person is to inject corruption affinity into them and leave them to die, their souls torn apart under the malicious affinity."

Akame thought for a moment and then shrugged uncaringly. "That doesn't matter to me. Murasame works for me. I don't care for the specifics." Her eyes sharpened dangerously. "Where is Night Raid?"

"They're fine," I said carelessly, reviewing my mental chart of tests to perform with Akame and Murasame. "Even the scissors lady. They're all alive and fighting your good fight. Don't tell Esdeath, though. She thinks she killed or captured them all but I released them not long after. I don't like the Empire but I like Esdeath. When I freed them from their jail I sort of backstabbed the Empire while I stole away their best general. If you tell her she would probably go hunt them down again and cause a mess."

"I understand. I want proof, though."

"Fine." I focused on the void and searched for the familiar signatures of aura. I opened four portals, one leading to the brown haired kid and the sniper making out on a cushioned chair, another leading to Bulat practicing with a spear, a third showing Najenda polishing her revolver and reading a book beside the scissors lady, who was knitting. The last one showed the green-haired boy taking a nap.

Akame looked at all of them stoically. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked softly.

"A month." She nodded.

"I see." She dashed across the room, her hospital gown flaring up behind her. I watched passively as she snatched her sword up from the table against the wall and tried to run into one of the portals. She slammed against a barrier of hardlight the protected the portals and stumbled backwards, drawing her sword drunkenly.

"No, you can't go back. Not now, at least," I said a little sadly. She gripped her sword hard and glared at me.

"Why?"

"Because they're fine. It's been a month of them getting over your death, which is what I told them when I broke them out. The Empire is falling, crumbling away. I checked last week. The army is winning and eating away at territory. The cause is stronger than ever. Riots are beginning in some occupied cities and revolution is strong. You're not needed and going there would only cause pain. I don't think you should go back at all, honestly. Besides, I need you here for my experiments. You tried to kill my girlfriend, too. Call yourself a prisoner of war, a sacrifice so that Esdeath was knocked off the playing board. Isn't that a fair price? Your life for the pillar of the Empire's military? You owe me and I'm collecting."

"I'm not _selling_ myself to you," she said venomously.

"Sure. I just need you to let me study your teigu. Nothing else. Depending on how cooperative you are it could take three months or three decades. One way or another I'm going to learn. You're going to be treated well and I'll give you some gifts at the end of this. You're not a prisoner, hence the lack of drugs, mind magic, or steel bars. You don't even need to stay here. Travel this world if you want or any other. I don't care. You just can't go back to yours."

"… This world?"

"Oh, that. Right. Well since we've gotten the other stuff done with I might as well fill you in on my situation."

[|||| =-= ||||]

Leaving Akame a shell-shocked mess of revelations I showed her outside my lab and invited her to pick a guest room or to sleep outside or do whatever she wanted. I gave her a watch and the usual times everybody gathered and just sort of left her, though I warned her to not try to do something ridiculous like try (unsuccessfully) to kill me in my sleep. I called it silly and went to bed, where my girlfriends were already half asleep. It was almost the middle of the night, after all.

We woke up as usual, me and Ophis, who never really slept, getting up first. She clung to me for five minutes before I nudged her away and she latched onto Kuroka. I nudged Esdeath away from my left shoulder, where she was nuzzling my arm, and gently pried Kuroka away from my right, which she was hugging. I escaped to get a shower and dress myself, which I did quickly and slipped out of the room to begin breakfast. I saw Esdeath's eyes crack open just as I left.

She would take her icy cold shower next and come straight down. Whether she bothered with decent clothes before noon was a tossup normally but with Akame over it was a certainty. Kuroka, who was twelve weeks into her pregnancy, would linger for awhile longer and then roll out of bed. She wouldn't take a shower until after breakfast.

I didn't waste time and got to preparing a breakfast as usual. I felt like french toast, so I got out some egg, milk, cinnamon, and sugar. I tended to always add something else for flavoring so I tried void salts, which I had a bunch of from Skyrim. They tasted like a soft brown sugar combined with the sort of explosive texture of pop rocks and went all fizzy when chemically broken down. I hoped that it would make the toast fluffier but mostly I just wanted to see what would happen. While that was cooking I took out some fruit and lemonade and tossed it in a blender. I felt like having a smoothie.

As I finished all of that I turned around to see Ophis sitting at the table silently staring at me. I set the pitcher of smoothie down and summoned a glass from a cabinet. I poured it for her and used void to wipe the affinity from it. She smiled slightly and drank daintily. I returned to cooking.

After finishing and beginning to dish up plates I glanced behind me at two aura signatures and saw both Akame and Esdeath entering at the same time. Akame was in a hoodie, probably taken from my coat rack, and tights. Esdeath was in a blouse and sweatpants. When Akame first walked in and saw her she froze and stared. Esdeath glanced at her and unconcernedly sat down.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me.

"Very," I said distractedly.

"Good. Do we have anything to do today?"

"I want to see if you have an animagus form. Well, not like in Harry's world but more like my form as a panther. You have a demon in you so I want to see if you can bring out physical aspects of it."

"That sounds wonderful!" she said enthusiastically.

"I've also considered getting a different form myself. Being a panther is nice and all, but I'd kind of like getting something more powerful. A dragon sounds nice but a bit cliche. I feel like I can be more creative."

"Dragons are awesome," Ophis, the infinite dragon god, pouted.

"I like variety."

"So perhaps not a demon, then?" Esdeath considered as she glared at my plates of toast like some sort of predator sizing up its prey.

"I'm not sure about an angel. I don't think I'm very holy. I'm leaning towards an eldritch abomination, but I don't want to scare anybody." Akame looked like we were speaking in some alien language, looking between us with a strange expression.

"You're at a difficult decision," my girlfriend considered. "Could you just acquire multiple and use them as needed?"

"I'd like one that I can associate with me if at all possible." We were all silent in thought as I passed out plates of french toast to everybody. Nobody wasted any time to start digging in.

"… Giant panther?" Ophis suggested. Akame snorted into her french toast and blushed when everyone looked at her.

"I could do that, make it as menacing as possible," I agreed. "Something with acid, maybe, or a smoke breath."

"You could go with some unknown creature," Esdeath tried.

"Something not well known? I guess it may work. A serpent might be alright, but I like having legs." I ran a few possibilities through my head. Slowly my mind turned towards monster hunter, the games. Those weren't magical, were they? No, they had bio-energy, which was probably aura or affinities. "Maybe something like a kataigida?"

"A what?" Ophis asked around a mouthful of french toast. I gave her a stink eye for talking with her mouth full but let it pass.

"A kataigida. An ancient magical species from Remnant. Think of a bear with scales like a lizard and sharp teeth. I resurrected them with the help of my friend Polendina," I said, possibilities running through my head. "Something like a panther with scales would work well. Very well. I'll need to do some research."

"Mm, research?" I looked at the source of the new voice to see Kuroka walking in, looking sleepy. She sat down at the table and started nibbling on the toast, probably not feeling well as usual.

"I want to bring out the demon soul in Esdeath, subsume it into her, and see if she can physically manifest it. I also want a new alternate form."

"Finally. How long have you been planning on getting to work on her teigu?" she asked, taking her first bites.

"Too long," Esdeath muttered. Then she glanced at Akame. "Speaking of, will you be doing the same on her?"

"No, the murasame has no soul. It just has a bunch of corruption affinity. I want to study the physical effects of corruption affinity on her but I'm giving her a grace period. Nobody just wakes up and is ready to be a test subject."

"Then what are you doing for your days?" Esdeath asked, looking at Akame.

"I… exploring this strange forest," Akame said quietly, clearly not comfortable being the center of attention. I thought it was a bit brave of her to even speak up at a table filled with a god, a demon, and an archwizard, all capable of destroying cities. Oh, and there was Kuroka, but she wasn't nearly as scary as the rest of us. She would also probably put it on herself to acclimate Akame to living here. I was counting on it. Nobody else was friendly enough for it.

"The crystals?" Esdeath prodded. She nodded. "Yes, Abyss makes those. He gets bored."

"I want the forest to be _interesting_," I insisted. "Not a bunch of trees and dirt. I want magical ponds and crystals and mysterious artifacts incomprehensible to most!"

"So you litter the forest with weird crap," Kuroka said with a teasing grin.

"Precisely," I agreed, taking another bite.

"What's in the forest?" Akame asked.

"Oh, it's awesome!" Kuroka gushed, her morning sickness quickly disappearing under enthusiasm. "There's all the colorful crystals that explode if you hit them too hard but there's also a bunch of dungeons and some weird creatures! I saw a golem yesterday!"

"Golem?" I recalled a bunch of granite I had animated with my life affinity. "Oh, the living stone. Yeah, I guess that _is_ a golem." I had always thought of golems as being magical AIs based on runes, like Penny.

"Yeah! And there was this cool black tower surrounded by an illusion and a mental barrier with a bunch of monsters inside and… The FUCKINGspiders!" She glared at me, looking suddenly furious. "I forgot about those FUCKING spiders, you utter son of a bitch!" I chuckled lowly. The cave of spiders worked perfectly.

"It's not funny!" she protested.

"It's totally funny."

"What spiders?" Esdeath asked.

"He built a cave with a treasure chest at the end of it! I just went through a bunch of bug statues that attacked me and I thought I had gotten to the end of the dungeon and I fell through the floor into this… colorful sea of spiders! There were so many and they got everywhere! I swallowed a spider! It was horrible and I cried a little!" Esdeath was snickering openly at her.

"It's not funny!" she repeated indignantly.

"It is."

"They weren't even dangerous. Also, I set up cameras in a lot of interesting areas. I'll check them for the video," I said mischievously.

"WHAT?!" Kuroka looked at me in wide-eyed betrayal

"I want to see," Ophis said.

"I'm going to go get it now. Would you get the dishes in the meantime?" I stood up.

"NO!" Kuroka cried. I teleported under my lab to a room with no door and opened up the camera feed to the spider dungeon, smirking all the while. I watched the video for myself once and chuckled at a plot gone perfectly. I made two copies just in case. I was going to hold that over her head for so long.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"So how are we going to do this?" Esdeath asked, alone with me in my lab.

"How are you with aura control?" I asked.

"I can manipulate it to flow through my body smoothly. I can concentrate it through a pencil without breaking it. I can't make it go through a braided rope properly. The twin spirals are difficult to flow aura through."

"What about a string?"

"Not a chance."

"Well how about sensing it?"

"I can sense across the house if I focus." I nodded. That was pretty good for an amateur and normal soul.

"Try sensing inwards. Try and find the demon soul. It should be fused into you but distinct." I sensed it myself and found a marbling through her soul. The light blue of her soul was marbled with a much denser blue to my senses. Esdeath sat down and closed her eyes and I wrote down a format for my notes so I could take them quickly.

"I think I found it. Is it the blue channels?" Esdeath seemed uncertain.

"That's it," I said. The room's temperature felt like it dropped a degree.

"It grows stronger when I use magic." Esdeath seemed fascinated by the demon soul. I had already taken enough notes on her demon soul and it's interactions with her own soul to write a small book with.

"Ignore that for now. Try to bring it outwards. It should be like turning inside out." Esdeath focused. The demon soul twinged while her own didn't. A minute later she was manipulating the soul independently of her own, though she moved her own a little from time to time.

"It feels… cold. I've never felt cold before." I was silent. She took the soul and pushed it to the edges of the skin of her left arm in the same way that an aura shield worked. But all it did was make a ghostly blue shield over her skin.

"Infuse it into your body. It's like enhancing yourself," I suggested. The glow faded, returned weaker, and returned once more just barely. There was a moment of nothing before Esdeath's left arm turned blue and more muscled. Her fingers turned longer, inhumanly so, and clawed. I waved my hand close to it and found the temperature drop the closer my hand came.

She opened her eyes and looked at the arm in surprise. "It worked?" she muttered.

"That's one arm. Try the other," I instructed. She closed her eyes and focused. The change seemed to come almost easily, taking about ten seconds. "Was that easier than before?"

"Yes," Esdeath said absently, inspecting her new arms. I offered her a bar of steel from my soul space and she tried cutting through it with a claw. She had to press hard but began to pierce through the solid metal. "It's sharp. My sword is sharper, though."

"How easy is it to channel magic through that arm?" The temperature of the room plummeted. I winced in discomfort and looked at the thermometer of my lab, one of my many tools. "So we're at negative forty seven degrees celsius." I channeled aura through my body and felt the cold fade away. I never appreciated that facet of aura. I sure did now.

"It came out so quickly," Esdeath awed. An extremely detailed ice sculpture formed in the palm of her hand. "That was effortless. I didn't even need to focus."

"Vastly increased access to the demon's affinity. How about you try for a full body transformation." Esdeath closed her eyes. "Wings," I interrupted. "You should take your clothes off just in case." Esdeath nodded and slipped off her sweats. When she tried to take her blouse off one long claw cut through the soft cloth without any resistance at all.

"I liked that one," I sighed. Esdeath frowned at the garment.

"I did too." She tossed it aside and closed her eyes. I watched in interest as she shifted. The transformation was fascinating. Her toes first merged together, losing the little toe and turning to the bluish color like the rest of her. There was also a noticeable arch to her feet. Her legs grew more muscled like her arms but also less thick and longer. I was a little confused to see her breasts shrink but I supposed that they were mostly fat anyways. The body seemed primed for strength and muscle. It was a little odd since most species in cold habitats had more fat than muscle for insulation. Perhaps affinity made insulation less important and strength more so.

The changes of her face were some of the most intense. Her cheekbones drew back, giving her face an inhumanly angled appearance, almost skeletal. The pronounced angles made her seem sharper and gave her a cruel definition. Even her ears turned pointed and elf-like while her teeth grew longer and more pointed like a predator's. Nothing was soft about her features. Just to really make sure people knew Esdeath wasn't human anymore two jagged slightly curved horns made of black ice grew out of her forehead. They weren't big, but large enough that I could fit one in a hand.

Surprisingly, her hair grew out even more, going below her lower back to the very top of her thighs, extremely long with how tall she had gotten. It paled from the light blue it once was, turning more to white tinged blue instead.

When she opened her eyes I noticed how her pupils were larger and the blue color of her eyes had darkened. They were still blue, but much darker and they would be black.

The change that concerned me the most was in her soul. By bringing it out to her body the marbling in her soul expanded and faded into her soul somewhat. It mixed with her a bit and I wondered if this was her teigu's version of Akame's trump card, the demon soul mixing with her soul like Akame's mixed with the corruption affinity.

She clenched her arm and the temperature shifted again, fluctuating low and coming back up as her hand unclenched. I was prepared for decreased control this time and my aura flared against the change, not showing but protecting me against the cold. "How do you feel?" I asked. Her eyes went to me and dilated. A low growl left her throat and she crouched down slightly. My own eyes narrowed.

"I don't suppose you're playing a prank on me?" A snarl left her and she approached me slowly, looking almost to circle me around my left. I noticed how ice collected on the walls around me. "Speak, demon. What do you want?" The demon growled again, seeming more pleased this time. I prepared myself to use my storm affinity to keep her back and subdue her while void countered her magic. I could analyse her then and see how to subdue the demon soul and fold its powers into Esdeath.

The demon stopped suddenly and stared at me silently. The only sound was a small cracking of ice growing. It snarled softly and ice collected in it's hand. I watched suspiciously as a vial of crystal clear ice formed. The demon brought it up and slipped one claw into it. A staggering amount of ice affinity focused and a drop of liquid affinity fell into the vial. _What_?

"Stop," I said. The demon hissed and looked at me again. I knelt down, still keeping an eye on the demon, and made a dagger from hard light. The demon growled aggressively but that faded as I drew complex runes in layered circles on the floor. "If you're doing what I think you're doing focus your power here. Set the vial down in the center first." The vial changed slightly to have a flat base and the demon snarled as it crouched down. It looked disturbing with such long limbs and the creepy face, like a splayed out spider.

The demon set the vial down and slipped the claw in again. Affinity focused through the circle and the demon made a sort of pleased crooning noise, liquid affinity dripping from it's claw quickly, a dozen fat drops per second instead of one tiny drop. It smiled and I noticed how its mouth was wider than any human's and its lips were thin. I glanced at a corner just to make sure my camera was recording this and not broken from the cold. It was safe in its circle of runes isolating its environment. Perfect.

The vial shifted forms to have a wider rounded base, an erlenmeyer flask, and more affinity was focused into the claw. A pleased growl, almost a purr, escaped the demon. I stepped back against the wall and felt comfortable enough to scribble down notes, observing the demon and its behavior. I was especially interested in its soul since the cameras couldn't record that. I drew an abstract sketch of it's soul and my perception of it, making sure to get every last detail.

It took almost ten minutes for the small flask to be filled with affinity. It was more liquid ice affinity and of a greater concentration than I had seen before. Curious about how much there was I observed it to get a basic profile of it. I made sure to focus on the amount of affinity more than usual.

**Ice/demonic affinity - concentrated (Extreme)**

**Rarity: Mythical (High)**

**Quantity: 61,184,104**

**Ice affinity (99.3%) mixed with aura and ice-related affinities (.6%), and trace demonic affinity (.06%) collected and condensed by a demon of ice for her lover using a series of runes to concentrate energies, though it is tainted by demonic affinity and small traces of aura. The affinity in this single flask is potent enough to freeze over a subcontinent such as India or Europe.**

No shit that's enough to freeze over a subcontinent! Maybe a decently sized country! My storm affinity is at about two million right now and I could make a hurricane large enough to cover the east coast of the US at five hundred thousand. Now? Fuck, I could take half of Asia in a hurricane. But this much ice affinity? I knew Esdeath was powerful but I could never observe the demon soul since it was always inside of hers and I had never really seen it. One of the weaknesses of observe was that it needed a physical presence or a visible energy signature to perform. The demon soul was augmenting its host and didn't have either.

But just how strong was the demon that it had… _this_?! What could Esdeath do with the demon's full power? Had she ever really pushed herself to use the demon's full power? Sure, the vial was what the demon could assemble in ten minutes of work so its affinity score was lower than over sixty million, but it was at least two million. I wished I had paid more attention to Poledina when he tested affinity scores versus affinity output. It would let me calculate the demon's true power rather than a ballpark estimate.

Hey wait, lover of the demon?

The demon chuckled, which sounded raspy, and held up the vial, stopping the flow of affinity. It held the liquid up and stood, it's long limbs more ominous now that I knew what I was dealing with. As a precaution I prepared my void affinity to connect me to the greater void. My connection to it was the only advantage I had. How had this escalated so fast?

And then it offered the vial to me. I blinked at the arm coming close to me holding the vial. What? What was happening?

"You… want me to absorb the affinity?" The demon growled. "That would activate the mate effect." The demon's raspy chuckle sounded again and it offered me the flask.

"**P̸̧̹̜͔̥͚̦͐̽̀̓́̎͘̚͢a̷̡̰̮̮̠̳̮͎̖̓̔̉͊͆̂ĉ̶̡̫̘̪͗͑͑́̿̃͛͋ͅͅt̷͚̲̗̙̪͉͊́̅̎̏͛͡͠͠.**"

My ears and brain hurt to listen to that. "English?" The demon growled a negative. I ran over the memory of its words a few times. "A… pact?" An affirmative came from it. My eyes narrowed.

"You're Esdeath's demon." The demon nodded and growled grudgingly. I couldn't tell what it was saying through the growl. It might not have had a purpose. Either way the demon held the flask at me again and its eyes narrowed.

"**Ả̵̡̨̧̛̟̻̥̣̠̩͕̉̈̒̀̚͝͡ĉ̸̢͙̟̻͇̖̈́̃̕͝c̜̺̩͔̤̉̑̈́́̀̀̾͟͝͠è͉̝̪̻̮̫̱́̆͒̕p̵̡̠͔̞̀̉͊͋̍͛̕͟͡͞ͅt̶̡̪̬͚̺̉̾̌́͒͜͝**," It said.

Another spike of pain went through my head as I deciphered the infernal words. I debated once more between being nice to the demon and causing a cold apocalypse and screwing up my ice with damage from the demon.

I took the flask with a grimace, hoping that this was actually a good thing and wouldn't kill me. Remember, it's only like a million nukes in a bottle so don't drop it… I was just going to drink it.

The demon grinned grotesquely and laughed in an ominous tone. Then, before my eyes, it began to shrink. Its limbs retracted to be a bit shorter and more human and its face shifted to a human one, clearly Esdeath's, though everything else stayed the same. It closed its eyes and when it opened them again, after the transformation was over, its eyes were the paler blue of Esdeath's again. Her skin was blue, she had two horns, and she had normal limbs that didn't make her look like slenderman's sister, though they were still slightly longer than normal for her. It wasn't too noticeable.

She blinked once at me grimacing and winced. She stumbled to the table and leaned on it. Her fingers, still somewhat clawed, dug into the wood as she hissed and massaged her temple.

"Ow… my head," she groaned.

"Did you perceive any of that?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"I was making the transformation happen… how do I…?" She looked over herself. "Oh, my. I like this." She twirled her fingers and a small flurry of ice and snow appeared in front of her.

"You got demonically possessed," I told her.

"What?" She turned to me and her gaze locked onto the flask in my hands. "I… what is that?"

"Your demon made it. I have to drink it for some sort of pact. Also, your demon friend is apparently happy to be… mated to me. I'm not entirely sure what this does."

"It's good," Esdeath said immediately. She blinked in surprise. "I think." She frowned and closed her eyes. "I can feel it," she growled. "It's awake."

"I figured," I said dryly. "I think it likes you. It must be the sadism."

"It likes you," she said grimly, opening her eyes. "The only reason it isn't trying to take over my body is that it thinks I'm using its power for more interesting purposes than taking over a cave and sleeping. "

"You know, for a demon, it's being incredibly generous."

"It considers you it's mate. It… She respects you for your power," Her lips twitched upwards. "Though she wants you to be more cruel. She thinks you'll be… something when you drink that flask."

"Oh dust below, are you actually befriending your demon tenant?" I put aside the idea of a transformation after drinking the affinity. I didn't want to think about that.

"I'm mastering aural communication, as you've taught me," she said sweetly. I despaired, sensing faint waves of aura coming off of Esdeath's soul. I could catch some of it, messages about cruelty and creatively horrible ways of using ice. I even caught a fragmented memory of a cave full of frozen creatures, their faces ones of horror and fear. I wasn't happy that Esdeath had made a friend.

"It wants me to drink this?" Esdeath nodded, a somewhat joyous and bloodthirsty expression on her face as she learned to converse with her new tenant. I didn't like how quickly she got along with the demon. I didn't trust the thing at all. I wanted to wipe its memories and personality with mind affinity and give Esdeath a consumption affinity so she could slowly digest it for its power since the thing was _just that evil_. But the demon would fight back any attempt I made and Esdeath's soul would be caught in the middle of our conflict, probably to be horribly maimed, killed, or crippled. Did she even realize that she was it's hostage? Or was I overthinking the demon's motives.

I resolved to strengthen my storm and void affinity just in case. I wanted my storm affinity to be my strongest to take advantage of my prime affinity perk, which quadrupled the strength of my strongest affinity, but I wanted my void affinity stronger too. I had a solution to this but I needed a moment of free time.

"The pact," Esdeath said, looking at the flask of affinity. "Fulfill it."

In a vain effort to stall for time and cross my fingers I disconnected from my followers, locking in the affinities they already had. This was going to hurt. I grimaced once more and took a deep breath as I raised the flask to my lips.

I felt the liquid touch my lips and I definitely had frostbite all around my mouth. It burned as it went down, even worse than liquid fire affinity, but I powered through the pain, draining the liquid. I experienced the odd sensation of my stomach acid freezing inside me. It wasn't deadly, not for my super-body with critical organs made from living metal, but it was far from pleasant.

The affinity began breaking down in me and my soul, making me cold in my soul, a deep chill settling in. My consumption affinity worked overtime to help assimilate the power. I gained plenty of new affinities and my ice affinity grew immensely. It was like a fire inside me. It hurt but it was a good pain, the strain of a workout, almost, just multiplied by a hundred.

As my ice affinity swelled I felt my storm affinity. I was attached to it. It had been with me for so long. I had done so much meditation on it but now it was about to be so… useless. I didn't like it.

And with what little sentience, that tiny bit of independence it had to act out in my favor, it didn't like that either. I tried to keep it as my prime affinity, unwilling to let all my work developing spells and making the perfect lightning bolt go to waste. It was my weapon, my Eclipse Rose, and a core part of my soul.

Luckily there was a way to compromise. Ice and storms weren't mutually exclusive, after all. The water facet of my storm shifted, an abundance of cold affinity merging with it, my unity affinity, insignificant as it may be, though it had mana fueling it, facilitating the change with my desire and mana. Ice merged with storm in a messy fashion, making something lopsided and unwieldy but holding immense power. The affinities clicked together to one prime affinity and I felt it perfectly.

***Ding!* Ice and storm affinities forcefully merged to form a blizzard affinity from .1% storm and 99.9% ice affinity! Total base strength of affinities is 4,214,897. WARNING! Affinity is extremely unstable! Acquire additional storm affinity or risk decomposition of affinity and damage to your soul! Affinity cannot be used safely!**

**By warping your signature affinity your title has upgraded: **

**The Blizzard**

**-Reduces mana costs of using your blizzard affinity by 25%**

**-Increases blizzard affinity by 100% (After skill modifiers)**

**-Increases mana capacity and regen by 50%**

**-Wind, lightning, electricity, plasma, water, cold, and ice affinities are barred from you. You may only access them by means of your blizzard affinity (in effect regardless of title)**

**\- Storm of souls semblance altered! (in effect regardless of title)**

Whatever the changes, I was in _excruciating _pain. My blizzard affinity was tearing itself apart and damaging my soul. My storm affinity was too weak and my ice affinity too strong. One was chaotic, the other orderly. One was solid, the other gaseous. One homogenous and the other so varied that it had multiple functions. That they were even meshed together in the first place was solely due to my own desires and my poor, strained, unity affinity, which was like a rubber band about to snap and let the two affinities loose, which wouldn't be bad but I wouldn't have my storm anymore. I would just have ice in my soul. I didn't want that, even if the only reason was out of pride. Luckily I had a plan.

I reached into the void and immediately found the dimension I was looking for. A plane composed of pure storm affinity. Things like matter, liquid, and solid didn't exist. It was all just storm affinity. There was nothing else.

I reached into that dimension and connected it to my soul. Raw storm affinity flowed into me. It hurt but it was a good kind of hurt. It was the sting of a needle giving a painkiller. I felt my blizzard affinity drink in the foreign power greedily, the storm stabilizing to something that could break down the ice. My soul swelled again, which had to be unhealthy at this rate. Then I had a brief epiphany. The subspace I had just recently gotten, the one connected to my storm affinity, was cracked open and I pulled that affinity into me too. I noticed that the pocket dimension was breaking down and vaguely thought I should study that but I couldn't bring myself to care, too distracted from the sweet, sweet peace in my soul.

I lost track of time in my affinities, too busy sculpting storm and ice together. My unity affinity fell from the newly formed blizzard and I felt a soul-deep soreness, like I had eaten too much. But as I shut off the flow of storm affinity I felt at peace, so much better than before.

… Where the hell had the demon affinity gone? That one thought brought alarm bells to me and I did a double take at my oh so peaceful soul, though I really just wanted to go do anything but focus on my aching soul. I found the demon affinity sitting innocently inert, not merging with other affinities, clashing with anything, or tearing me apart. I didn't trust it at all but I was a little preoccupied to deal with it. I could just wipe it from me with void if I had to. As it was, I just took a look at my blizzard affinity through the FATE system and gave up so I could rest.

**Blizzard: 8,427,882 (+2100) (x128) (250%)= 2,697,594,240**

Yet as soon as I opened my eyes I felt a burning in me… mate effect. Right. I looked around the room, which was absolutely trashed with broken glass and furniture everywhere. The wall had the all too familiar blackened scars of lightning damage and where there weren't scars from lightning there was ice and snow. And, hiding in the corner, was a small cocoon of ice. I walked over to it and flicked my wrist. It parted like a flower blooming to reveal Esdeath, still looking demonic, sitting down and looking faintly tired.

"Mate effect," I said shortly. She blinked at my bluntness and let loose a short, incredulous laugh.

"You just trashed your la-"

"I have backup notes," I interrupted her before I pulled her close and kissed her deeply. I didn't even notice the cold.

**[Lemon]**

I was nothing but thankful that Esdeath was naked. That she was a bit demonic looking was hardly an issue. My mind was in a haze and I wasn't biased. I didn't even remember that she had a demonic passenger probably watching us.

Her being naked allowed me to grope her breasts roughly. She bit off a moan before she growled and pulled away, her eyes narrowing at some perceived challenge. A knife appeared in her hands and she cut off my shirt and tore it off me without trouble. I ignored it. I was too busy kissing at her neck and nibbling every few seconds. The way she jerked was adorable but I could tell by her flushed face that it turned her on. I did notice when she threw my pants down and put her hands against my chest.

I lowered my hands to her ass and continued my groping, though I kept from coming near her entrance. I was far from in the mood for foreplay and moved to press her against the wall. She growled again - what was with all the growling with demons? - and I fell backwards suddenly as her foot pulled my legs out from under me. I was surprised that she was doing this now of all times as I was as far from in the mood for this as I could get. She dropped down to straddle me, looking in my eyes defiantly, and I grabbed her arms and spun around, pinning her to the floor. She snarled and tried to do the same but I ignored it. My blizzard affinity, bless it, moved the ice and her wrists sunk into the floor a little.

Her magic strained against mine but I was evidently far, far stronger than her now with my bonuses multiplying my affinities, not to mention how the storm affinity I had just absorbed meshed with my ice. I enjoyed the feeling and by the somewhat purple tint on Esdeath's cheeks and how her hips writhed I could tell that she did too.

I came closer to her and grabbed her face roughly. I was breathing heavily as I bit her ear hard enough to draw blood. She yelled in surprise and bucked under me. A dark laugh escaped me and I kneed away her legs from her privates. Seeing another way to resist me she drew her legs close to kick me away and I quickly moved a hand to knock aside her legs. I didn't waste time and pressed myself to her. I slammed through her entrance and she screamed because _holy shit _she was wet. Even her pussy seemed to resist me, muscles straining around my cock, feeling incredible around me. She was colder than usual, but comfortably so. Cold didn't seem to affect me anymore. I didn't notice much besides how fantastic she felt.

I thrusted away, mauling her breasts and my hands lowering to her ass every once and awhile. Her face looked up to me, eyes glittering with lust. I mashed my mouth to kiss her and there was as much biting as tongue-wrestling as I fucked her. Even still her arms were straining against the ice. She had escalated to using her aura, making her eyes glow blue, though they were almost rolling up now. They probably would have if she wasn't so focused on fighting me. It made her legs, which were pressing against my back, urging me to go deeper and deeper in her, pull on me even harder.

With a shudder and a gasp she came hard, every muscle in her body tensing again. With a few more thrusts, worsening her state, I came too, thrusting deep inside her. I groaned and made out with her less roughly as I filled her. There were a few moments of rest as we enjoyed out high, our souls mingling and mixing our senses together to a pleasurable unity of our mutual satisfaction, but it wasn't long after that my body and soul demanded more of her. My relaxed breaths quickened again and Esdeath caught on too, looking at me with renewed lust.

I admired the marks on her, red bites and flushed skin from my affections and slightly swollen lips from our kissing. I once more pawed at her ass and breasts, being more tender this time. I was ready again and Esdeath clearly was too, but I wanted her to sweat before I relieved her.

I smirked as I caressed her face and she snapped at my fingers, which I twitched away with even more satisfaction. Then her leg slammed into my side and I fell off of her a little. In my enjoyment of her helplessness she had somehow weakened the ice binding her and slipped her hands out without me noticing. I was less amused as she punched me in the stomach hard enough to wind me and got her feet under her. She grabbed me by my thighs and held me up against the wall. She redoubled her efforts for control as she kissed me again. I didn't fight her and instead went along with her efforts to see where she wanted to go.

She saw how I wasn't resisting and set me down, pressing herself against me. The ice didn't let her slip and she softened her kisses. I brushed against her entrance with a finger and she shuddered. Her hand fell onto my shaft and I sighed happily into her mouth. I teased her entrance and she trailed her hands over me, not working to get me off but making sure to keep me hard with brushes and touches.

I slipped one finger inside her and she mimicked my happy sigh so I slipped another in and she tightened around my digits. I slowly slid in and out of her while my thumb flicked against her clit at random to keep things interesting. My other hand pulled her close and slid to all the places I knew she liked, the small of her back, the sides of her stomach, and her upper arms. I spent a moment admiring her hair, which was still white with a soft blue hue. It was beautiful and almost shimmered in the light of the ice around us. She purred happily as I lovingly caressed her head, knowing how much I appreciated her.

It was when she pressed her waist against me and grinded against my fingers a little that I sped up my pace, being more energetic and less soft. She rewarded me with more direct touches, almost jerking me but not quite. It was aggravating.

She breathed heavily on me but before she came she pulled my fingers away from her and began kissing down my neck. I was interested in what she was doing. Was she going to bite more? As she lowered herself down I was getting the idea of what she wanted to do. It was only as her lips parted around my cock that I inwardly cheered and reached for her horns.

Only for her to smack her hands away as she lowered her head down my cock. She looked up at me, seeming somehow challenging even now. I wanted to grab her horns and fuck her face right there and then, but I knew that that wouldn't be winning. That would just be taking what I wanted, what she wanted me to do. She knew I wanted to use her horns as handholds before and now she was using that against me. I forced my hands away from her head and pressed myself against the wall as the succubus worked my cock, going centimeters at a time, trying to make me lose control again. I wouldn't be winning anything if I lost control, though, even with the mate effect, my natural lust, and her own lust telling me how good an idea it was to take control.

For three whole minutes, I counted, she slowly sucked, fondled, and licked my cock, focusing on pushing me to the edge and loving the power she had over me. She flitted her tongue over my tip, sucked at my balls, and drew her tongue enthusiastically over my shaft while she jerked my head. It was a true test of my self control to not grab her horns but I managed. Barely.

Finally she laughed seductively around my dick and grabbed my waist. A block of ice appeared under my and I sat down with relief, my legs shaking a little. My hands came up to her horns and she looked up at me invitingly. I took my time, wrapping my fingers around the black, jagged horns with relish at my reward. I didn't rush right into it, pulling her head down to deepthroat me slowly.

Then I wasn't so restrained. I pulled her down all the way and pushed her back up faster. She was breathing a bit heavily and I saw her hand playing with herself where I couldn't see. I knocked her legs apart and she hesitantly parted them so I could see her fingering herself as she sucked on me. I smiled and finally got to work.

Her head rapidly rose and fell as her tongue drew all over me. She sucked harder than ever, not holding back at all to get me to cum. I pulled on her horns recklessly, relaxing as she worked. I even closed my eyes before she growled angrily and I opened up to see her looking petulantly at me for attention. I stood up, making her rise up too, and began to finish myself off.

Esdeaht was fingering herself faster, her eyes looking up at me adoringly. I smiled at her before my smile turned to a bit of a smirk and I hooked my foot around her arm and pulled her out of herself as I finished myself off, coming into her mouth. She seemed betrayed and a bit angry, her adoring look turned to a resentful glare. She still licked me off, if rougher than necessary, and came off my cock with a soft pop. I grabbed her and switched places with her, putting her on the stool and pushing her legs apart to lick her. By the soft laugh she had I could tell that she forgave me.

**[Lemon ends]**

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Why does it smell like…" Akame trailed off as she entered my lab at exactly eight o'clock.

"It smells like air freshener and that's all it smells like," I said with finality. She nodded with an embarrassed blush, happy to go with the obvious lie.

My lab was still a little bit of a mess but most of my notes were safe. They were disorganized so I had to spend a half an hour cleaning the lab and reorganizing my notes. I went the extra mile and made a cabinet. The sides and back of it were all wood, but the front of it was runed ice in remembrance of why you should keep your notes under lock and key when doing dangerous experiments. This one could have gone disastrously wrong.

Luckily the worst thing to come out of it was that Esdeath had found a friend who enjoyed the same horrible hobbies as she did. Scary, but it could have been worse. I was still trying to decide what to do with the demonic affinity, though, and I was having a hard time doing anything without including ice or cold somehow.

Lightning strikes struck to flash freeze something rather than burn it, air had small ice crystals in it, or water was at freezing temperatures. Ice or coldness had to be involved somehow in all my storm-related spells or my magic was inefficient. It wasn't a big deal since with such a high affinity my magic was a hundred times more powerful than before but more powerful wasn't always better. I could destroy countries in a howling storm of ice but I couldn't make a gust of wind without some hail in it. However, there were some pretty interesting things I could do with so much affinity. Not to mention my semblance warping itself.

"So today we're going over the basics," I said conversationally. "I want to observe what happens to a creature when you cut it, though I'm pretty sure I already know, and I want to try injecting a little corruption into you."

"Mm," Akame agreed. "But I have a condition."

"Of course you do." I sighed.

"I want a job."

"Test subject isn't enough?"

"No."

"You can be my concubine, then," I decided. Akame blanched at the prospect. I snickered at her. "That was a joke." She nodded in relief, not looking very amused. "How about my lab assistant? I need somebody to take notes and run minor experiments in my absence."

"No thank you," she said politely. "I would prefer something physical."

"You DO want to be my concubine?" I joked. She looked at me flatly. "Fine, fine. I'm sure Elsyria will have something for you."

"Who?" Akame seemed interested.

"A friend of mine. She leads a religious group I associate with, though I'm not a member." I felt like my tongue was forked with how well I danced around my position in my religion. "She could always use someone trained in stealth. Your experience in infiltration could definitely help her and if not you could train some people in swordplay."

"I'd like to talk to her," she said.

"Sure. Experiments first, though." I waved my hand and a portal opened up in the air. A little green goblin, fresh from a generic classic fantasy world fell from the portal with a nasal shriek. It scrambled to its feet and Akame drew her blade. I gestured towards it and she cut it very shallowly on its forehead. It shrieked again while a black mark quickly spread over its face. It was a large sample of corruption affinity, though a thread of affinity led back to the blade. The black mark spread quickly before the goblin's screams cut off as its soul was torn apart by malignant corruption and it slumped to the ground. The marking disappeared as the thread of corruption affinity pulled back to the blade.

"So I was mostly correct. I didn't expect the blade to preserve it's affinity. I thought it injected it," I muttered, writing down notes.

"What was that?" Akame asked in disgust.

"A goblin. It's an irritating pest that you won't mind killing. Unless you'd prefer to slaughter fluffy bunnies or something."

"Goats?" she suggested.

"Sure." A portal opened up with a giant golden goat the size of a minivan falling out of it and bleating mightily. Akame yelped and slashed with her blade by reflex. The sample of corruption affinity was much larger this time. The goat let out a surprised, shrieking bleat before it fell down to its front legs and died too, though over five seconds passed before it succumbed to its poison. Akame glared at me.

"That took a lot more energy than before," I noted. "So larger souls need more affinity? Or is it larger bodies. Are the markings signs of internal physical injury or the presence of so much corruption around the initial wound? Maybe corruption making itself innate through pure concentration and expressing itself? Let's cut something with a purity affinity this time. It might counter the corruption."

"I don't think I like this," Akame said, looking tired.

"Those goats and goblins murder people," I told her. I pointed at the goat's teeth, which were sharp and layered like a shark's. "Look, it's carnivorous."

"Oh. Nevermind, it's a danger beast." She seemed utterly remorseless after realizing that.

"Sure. I'm going to dissect it this time right after you cut it. I want to know if the poison is physical. Again."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I feel kinda uncertain with this chapter but it's not bad, at least I don't think so. It just sorta skips around a bit, setting up for more chapters. Lots of friendship this chapter, though. Oh, wait, sorry, "Friendship"; Non-consensual friendship. **

**Hope you all are staying safe out there, virus and all. Remember to wash your hands. Meanwhile I'll be staying inside tearing through Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Because that's out now and it's awesome. I think my couch has a permanent depression of me on it now. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 15**= ||||]

My skin turned a purplish black, my fingernails to claws, and my arm grew more skeletal and longer, so similarly to Esdeath's demonic form. I willed the affinities away and the darkness faded. I summoned the demonic affinity again along with chaos and my skin turned to the dark purplish tint. I reached down onto the table and picked up a knife made from ice as I set my arm on a metal cutting board.

"Physical force…" I pressed against my arm with the edge of the blade. A thin line of dark red appeared. I pulled the knife away and it healed in just a few seconds. "Unchanged." I wasn't too disappointed.

"Direct energy attacks…" I tossed the knife onto the table and picked up a cattle prod. I hated this part. Still, I pressed it against my skin and muffled a yelp. I flicked out my hand a few times and drew on a little ice affinity to soothe the injury. "Unchanged," I muttered. Then I sighed.

"Direct magical attacks…" I drew the revolver inlaid with runes and altered with weak corruption dust to fire a magical beam instead of a bullet. I didn't have much of the dust, having not had the affinity for long, but Poledina had once tried to make grimm into dust. He had a lot of time to crush them into pieces. I pointed the revolver at my hand and fired with a wince. Then I blinked in surprise. "Wow, that is really good."

I was impressed. I didn't even feel that. For a moment, I wondered if I had actually hit my hand. I didn't see a mark on the table, though. Just to make sure I held my hand to the barrel of the gun and fired. The black flash didn't blind me and I flexed my hand.

"Extreme resistance to direct magical attacks. Soul attacks?" I put a question mark there for now but aural attacks were almost always linked to direct magical ones. A defense against one usually proved to be a defense against the other.

Unfortunately, I was already running late for today's personal time. I had been in my lab for hours after dinner and getting the chaos demon changes started was the most I would do. If I went further to the other effects of the morph I would get distracted and take another hour of tests.

Just for fun, and because I really wanted to keep experimenting, I changed the color of my hand a few times. It turned a cloudy whitish blue with blizzard, like poor glass with a blue tint or some translucent rock. The affinity detached and space cycled in. My arm turned faintly yellow and the muscles faded while purple markings spiraled up to my elbow, where the transformation stopped and my body was normal.

Void was next and my arm turned pitch black, like an empty sky, and my arm looked dessicated, as though I hadn't eaten in years. I could faintly see impressions of my bones through my skin in places. Lastly I tried purity. Though it and the demonic affinity resisted somewhat they merged after a delay. My arm turned a pale, porcelain color with gold markings similar to the space transformation. I clenched my fist briefly, still fascinated by the foreign muscles and claws.

"Still weird," I murmured, letting the demonic affinity fade from my body, leaving me normal and healthy again. A glance at my papers showed all the tests I had done. How resistance scaled with the level of transformation, what affinity had what resistances, what extra limbs I sometimes gained or physical abnormalities, normally wings, how my magic changed, and less obvious changes, though I hadn't had enough time to really research that.

It was a little hard to do experiments on myself sometimes and Esdeath wasn't all that happy to be shot in the hand. Granted, there was probably a better way to test magical resistance, but there wasn't much of a generic magic attack with how varied affinity was. Corruption shot was the best I could think of.

"Hey, Kuroka." I nudged the sleepy cat with my elbow, where she was asleep on the table. She was a heavy sleeper. Even gunshots didn't wake her up somehow.

"Hn, wha? Oh." She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"I'm done now."

"More sleep." She laid her head back down and I gave her my best eyeroll before scooping her up. "Nice," she murmured.

"What time is it?" I wondered, looking at the clock. "Oh." Two in the morning was a good time to fall asleep. I didn't mean to stay up so late. I walked to my lab's door, opened it with magic, and started the walk to my room.

"Finally," Ophis' sleepy voice said to my right. I didn't even look at her as I walked.

"I didn't get to finish most of the tests I wanted," I said to her, still walking.

"Too bad," she said in monotone, stepping beside me.

"Is Esdeath already in?"

"Mm," that was a yes. "She wanted to do some stuff before we went to sleep. She even put on that skimpy stuff."

"She actually thought I'd be out of my lab? I haven't even finished studying the blizzard affinity."

"Still?" She leaned forwards so I could see her looking at me with surprise, however much she expressed it.

"I've got the basics but I need to investigate more spells for it. A few of my storm based spells change when I try using a blizzard affinity. Some of them work fine, but all of them are changed at least a little. I can use just lightning but it's surprisingly difficult. I need to incorporate ice into everything to-"

"Enough," she said, sounding more tired than before.

"Fine, fine. I do want to see how you like the void demon form."

"Void… demon?" She sounded curious.

"The demonic affinity is a complementary affinity. It doesn't do anything without another, kind of like chaos but more so since chaos can do at least some small things by itself. I don't like using the demonic affinity with my magic but it's very receptive to being expressed on my body. It's the only affinity I have that allows me to use the body of worlds technique with multiple affinities."

"Body of worlds?"

"You know where I turn my body to ice or lightning or light?"

"Oh, that."

"Mhm. And void doesn't have a body or worlds based form. But with demonic affinity, a purely complementary affinity, I can infuse my body with void."

"… Oh!" Now she got it, her eyes widening in realization. "So you mean… it's a sex thing."

"Maybe," I admitted, beginning to climb the stairs. "I look… unhealthy when I use it. Like I'm starved. I feel perfectly fine but I'm not exactly good to look at."

"Whatever," Ophis said uncaringly. "Lets try it."

"Not tonight. You're too sleepy."

"What about-"

"No. Sleep." I opened the door to the master bedroom to see Esdeath almost asleep in my bed. She opened her eyes when I arrived but the sight of Kuroka asleep seemed to disappoint her, where she laid back down. I set Kuroka onto the bed and stripped, tossing my clothes into a hamper in the corner, and went under the covers. Kuroka squirmed under somehow and then stripped herself but she just threw her clothes around haphazardly and hugged me. Then Esdeath moved in and got her own part of me to latch onto. Ophis valiantly stayed away from me, staying on the other side of Kuroka. A hard choice for her, I knew.

"Goodnight," I said. The others echoed me and everything was silent.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I woke up to an explosion.

"The hell?!" I yelled, jerking upwards from the ground where I was apparently laying, but all I saw was a smokey cloud and voices muttering around me.

I snarled in anger at whoever disrupted my sleep and decided that it was a great day to test out my new affinity. The demonic affinity merged with the blizzard and the two meshed onto my skin. Claws sprouted on my hands, white icy horns grew from my head, and my skin turned more muscled and, of course, the cloudy blue and white color.

"**Ẅ̴̢̢̢͖̤̤͙̺̙́͛̾̿͑̊͛̓ͅḫ̺̤̪͕̹̋̂̑̽͒ỉ̴͈̰͇̥̱͗̐̀̉͢͝ͅc̝̯̮̰̹̬̜̉́͐̇̆̽h̡͓̖͙̦̓̉̊̓̉͛͜͝͞ ḭ̧̙͚͔̙͈͂͛͒͛̀̍͞d̶̯̘͕̩̩͔̩̣͗͋͐̈́́͗̌̎͝ì̸̡̢̧͚͉̟̰̮͙̑̊̚͠ŏ̢̞̙̣̙̓̈́͊̽͒̓̚͟t̨̖͙̫͔̼͑͐̾̄͋̀̈̀͐͞ w̸̨̙͔̭͓̬͛̓̐̆̐̅̚̕͟ȍ̴̢̳̗̥̖̠̩͆̓́̕̕ḱ̢̧̢̡̼̻̲̱͖̄͗̓̽͘̕͡e̢̡̼͚̰͕͈̐̈̇̋̏̂̓̚̚͜ m̰͈͍̠̖̞̲͂̿̏̂̂͆͂̑̕̕ͅě̢̘̤͙̩͎̫͒̒͑́̎̏͜͜͞͠ u̟̤̗̭̻͙̯͊̋͛̂̀̕̕͜p̷̢̢̛͓̘̥͖̟̜͎̿̄̌͘͝?̘̣̓̈̍̂̽̔̌̌̚͟" **I spoke. Then I scowled scarily, showing off my teeth.

Several people around me cried out at the warped, piercing voice. I felt a little bad about that but not too much. They shouldn't have summoned me if they didn't like the results.

"Perhaps I should rephrase," I spoke in a slightly deeper voice than normal. It sounded like I was growling my words a little bit. "Which one of you idiots woke. Me. Up?" I flexed my blizzard affinity and a strong gust of wind blew away all the smoke in the air away, though some snow was present in the wind. It wasn't my problem.

Around me were young kids, about sixteen or seventeen, and an older man, possibly a teacher. They looked at me in fear except for the teacher, whose face was stiff with wariness.

"My apolo-" he was interrupted by a howling sound as a black figure wormed its way into the world from nowhere. Out of thin air a European dragon crawled into existence. It wasn't made of uniform scales and flesh but pitch black snakes with black eyes. Writhing, slithering snakes in a facsimile of a dragon besides two nearly glowing steely grey eyes and sharp white teeth that grew from somewhere in it's maw.

I took all that in but more than that was the presence it exuded, an oppressive and overbearing thing that screamed of raw power, possession, and… void.

Ophis? Wait, that's Ophis! … Wow, she looked scary. It was kind of awesome. I had never seen her look like a dragon before.

"**WHO STOLE MY MATE?!" **she snarled malevolently. Her head looked around once, looking over the students. Then she saw me, standing near her right foot, and her tone immediately softened. **"Beloved… who stole you from our bed?" **she asked, a hint of malice still in her voice. I looked over the children and the older man, who all looked terrified now, and started towards a conclusion.

The students all had various creatures with them, though a few had mundane ones too, all bound to their souls except for one slightly short pink-haired girl. Most of them had affinities in line with basic elements and no higher ones, earth, water, fire, a few metal ones and… the pink haired girl had void. I was seeing where this was going.

"You, teacher," I said normally with a look towards the man. It sounded like I was still growling slightly. Whatever. "You're summoning creatures to serve as companions, aren't you?" The man took a moment to respond, looking between me and Ophis' intimidating form with a pale face.

"Y-yes. This is… the familiar summoning… ritual. Everybody does it." He kept looking in fear at Ophis, who growled at the word 'familiar', causing him to falter.

"She did it," I pointed at the pink-haired girl, who looked shell-shocked, glassy eyes staring into nowhere. Ophis' power swelled. "Don't murder the girl because she made an honest mistake," I chided her. She paused and sighed, which caused the clothes of the students to flutter behind them, before she shrunk down to her normal form.

I looked to the girl again, who looked ready to pass out. "Now, did you mean to anger me and my possessive little dragon?" Ophis walked over to me and I hugged her while she glared at all the students.

"… No!" she squeaked after everyone began to look at her.

"Good. Don't do so again. Now goodb-"

"Ineedafamiliar!" she blurted out. Everyone looked ready to throw things at her while she looked aghast that she even spoke.

"Use this." I collected some fire affinity in one place as I dropped the demonic form. I couldn't use other affinities than the paired one while the demonic affinity was active. It was the first one that I thought might be common here and not powerful enough to destroy this world's balance of power. I couldn't make a strong one anyways. A weak petty fire elemental formed, the literal weakest elemental grade possible.

It was supposed to look vaguely humanoid but as weak as it was it looked like a mass of fire with four stubby limbs. I tossed it at the girl with some motion magic and she tried to catch it, only to drop it when she touched the flames. She fumbled to barely catch it when she wasn't burned. If I hadn't been telling the elemental to not burn anything through a pulse of aura she would have been burned. She paused for a moment before trying to kiss the elemental. Her face half submerged in it's mass before it squirmed and a strange marking of blue flames showed on it. I saw her soul link with the elemental and it turned black, contaminated with void but unable to be snuffed out with their souls linked. Their souls were basically one now.

"Great. Bye." I scratched Ophis' head and used the void to teleport back to my bed. Esdeath and Kuroka blearily latched onto me but not before Ophis squeezed between me and Kuroka. She just wrapped her arms around both of us.

"… I didn't know you were so possessive," I whispered very quietly to Ophis.

"They interrupted cuddles. Mine." She was a dragon. That made sense. I may want to ward her off of using murder as her first method of punishment, though. I might check up on that world later but as it was I was still tired. Sleep now.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I was going to try something new. I was going to change a world in one way and let it go on without me for awhile. I'd return once a day to check up on what my change had done but not more than that. I'd have a history in the world, albeit a small one. I felt like barging in and fixing all the problems was growing a bit boring, and I would feel bad making problems, so I was going to see how a more 'hands off' approach worked. It would be fun and I could always spend an hour fixing problems if my actions screwed up some things. It would even out somehow.

Either way I found myself staring out of a school locker, feeling ready to put my plan into place. Three girls were waiting in ambush, skulking around two corners in vigil. One was nearly a supermodel, a redhead without the ever common freckles. She looked the most excited and was looking at the locker with an imaginative gaze. I wondered what fantasies were playing out in her head before deciding that I didn't want to know.

Just to assure myself that my plan was foolproof I glanced to the side and saw that my preparations were holding fine. I nodded to myself and continued my inspections.

The second was an athletic looking girl, the only one that was black. She looked more… anticipatory. She didn't look like she was planning anything malicious but more like she was just waiting for the right moment. It reminded me a bit of a cat waiting to pounce except far from cute.

The last one looked a little bored and was the plainest of them all, a cute girl if a bit doll-faced in a very average way. She was pretty, sure, but pretty in the girl-next-door kind of way. I didn't think she would play much of a part in what was coming. The only way she really registered for me was that her makeup smelled too much. Then again I had much better senses than any human. I had used some mind affinity to shut off my sense of smell after I got close to the locker under invisibility. It really had an intolerable stench of rot and decay.

The moment I had been waiting for didn't take long, maybe two minutes or maybe three. A fourth girl was walking up the staircase. She wasn't pretty or athletic like the others. She was a bit too plain, too tall with too thin arms and legs. If she used some makeup, aura, or exercised often enough she would be beautiful but she didn't do any of those things so she was just average.

The girl walked a bit absently to the locker I was near, the one that stunk. The others, the ones that were hidden, crept closer to her, being careful to not make a single sound. Only the black one was half decent at it.

When she got close the girl's face scrunched up and her nose wrinkled in disgust. She clearly smelled the locker. Still, she persisted, perhaps out of curiosity, and entered a code into it. She hesitated before opening it for just a moment, where the other girls were right behind her. She was apparently too distracted by the smell to notice them.

Opening the locker revealed heaps of vile cloth tinged green, yellow, and a faded red. Bugs whizzed around and inside the material, making the scene a disgusting one. I had seen worse, and smelled worse cutting people apart but this was a special brand of disgusting and I was glad that I didn't have my sense of smell. I could taste the air, though, which wasn't very pleasant at all, but I wasn't that comfortable blunting more than one of my senses.

The girl staggered back from the smell and bent over to vomit. She only had a moment, though, when the girls struck, pressing forwards onto her back. Her eyes widened in surprise, fear, and after the briefest of delays a terrified understanding.

If I hadn't intervened she would have been shoved into the horrible locker, legs deep in the filth. Instead through a twinge of mind affinity her hands shot out to the sides of the locker, pushing herself back from going inside.

"Finally growing a spine, Taylor?!" the black girl taunted. She looked viciously gleeful. The anticipation was gone, transformed into some sort of thrill in her actions. I felt a hint of loathing for the girl myself. She was truly a terrible person.

The girl, Taylor, didn't get a chance to speak before the redhead stepped back and rammed her into the locker. Her arms buckled under the force and she stepped unwillingly into the locker, her shoes squishing in a way that made my stomach pretty unhappy. I wondered if I should intervene here instead, but I still waited for just the right moment.

"Hah!" the redhead cheered. The other girl punched her victim in the face while their lackey pushed her fully into the locker as she was stunned, her head clipping the top in the process. The locker door began to shut on her and she barely managed to turn around to stare in horror at her assaulters. I finally began my plan.

Mind affinity reached out to Taylor and I sacrificed my own INT temporarily to boost her mental processing speed. Her thoughts were running through me and my aura, which was basically my brain anyways.

"_You're about to lose it," _I told her in the moments that the door was slowly closing. _"Your freedom. You're about to be trapped in this… place. It's terrible, isn't it? But you could get out."_

"_How?! HOW?! PLEASE, NONONONONO!" _she screamed into my mind, panicking and crying. The locker door was half closed now.

"_Well you had to resist but you didn't." _I felt bad doing this, but I wasn't going to pull a Hermione. I made that mistake before. The tactic was valid but I couldn't target a person's insecurities to break them. I had to press them to make them know they were there and guide them to grow past them. I wasn't teaching Hermione, not really. I hurt her. I wasn't going to hurt Taylor. Somewhere in her I believed she knew all the things I was going to tell her. She just hadn't faced them yet. This would hopefully be a metamorphosis for her. I just had to be gentle.

"_Calm down. There is another way." _I cheated a little and used mind affinity to calm her down just a bit.

"_How? Please… how?" _With her message came the unintentional sensation of filth on her legs, squeezing in as the door closed. The fear she was feeling and how desperate she was to get my help.

"_Power. It's simple, isn't it?"_

"_I don't HAVE power!" _she said. It felt like she was crying for her helplessness combined with self-loathing. Dust, she had so much baggage coming through with every message.

"_But what if you did?"_ I felt her realization, albeit a small one. She realized that I was offering her something. She just wasn't rational enough to not talk to the voices in her head offering promises of power.

"_I… I would make it right! I'd stop them! I'd… I'd be a hero." _The end came at barely a whimper. I couldn't help but get the impression of a withered dream and a sense of failure along with a giant heap of more self-loathing.

"_You would join the protectorate?"_ I asked, projecting mild curiosity.

"_Yes!"_

I didn't use words. Rather, I connected the dots that were already there. Sophia Hess, the athletics, the 'hero' Shadow Stalker, a history of violent vigilantism, the bullying, how she broke into her locker all the time, and how the school looked away from her bullying.

The mental connection seemed to freeze with pure shock. Then anger, a blistering, righteous fury. Genuine hatred bloomed as flickers of ways to torture and murder the girl passed through her head.

"_It's unjust, isn't it? Don't you want to change it? There's not much fair in the world. Do you want to change that?"_ Unfortunately I hadn't done this quite right. Crystal clarity passed through her head.

"_What do you want?" _she hissed at me. The door was almost closed, mere inches before it slammed shut. I gave myself a moment to cheer that she wasn't such a sad sack of self-deprecation anymore. Anger was much better. It didn't weigh her down and tint her messages so much.

"_Dedication. A life debt. I will give you the power to change everything. Power to challenge Sophia, the school, Lung, the monsters that roam your world if you so wish. But you have to give something of equal value. I want you." _She rebelled against the idea, balking against the idea of selling away herself of all things. An image of herself forced to murder and torture passed through me.

"_I wouldn't make you do that. I want to make the world a better place even if it means nothing in the end. But I can't be everywhere and I value my family over all things. You will fix your world. But you will do so with my shadow over you. I will give you independence, but on a leash, albeit a long one. But aren't you already held down by so many? Don't reject me out of hand when you wither under the authority you suffer under already."_ My words gave her pause. The locker was just an inch from closing now.

"… _I agree," _she whispered quietly in her mind. With that I gave another impression. A pact sealed, an agreement struck. I impressed upon her the weight those words held to me and gave the ghost of a threat that should she ever break her word I would do a vague something that I didn't properly define to her. She seemed to quietly understand me.

"_Now," _There was just a sliver of light but my message was filled with sharp teeth and a hint of viciousness. _"Change the world. There are too many idiots and horrible people fucking things up. Don't hesitate to beat them down on your path. You are the rules. Act like it." _My soul connected with hers. A blast of murky aquamarine filled the locker and I filled the slot where my worshippers fitted in. Where they only had a hint of my power, less than a percent of the access to my affinities, I gave Taylor as much power as I could. I felt satisfaction as her first perk appeared when I used observe on her.

**Devotee of Abyss - Due to being under the patronage of Abyss Mavros, who has deemed to patron you, you are granted a maximum of one percent of each of his strongest three affinities, though the amount of affinity available to you may be variable upon his will. Additionally, you may focus and communicate with said patron, though he may choose to ignore you, and he may transfer power to you as he sees fit. In exchange for these boons your pools of energy are completely under his control and your energy regenerations will fuel his pools of energy when not in use for your own reserves of energy. **

Taylor didn't have a lot of mana regeneration or aura regeneration, though she had a fair bit for a puny normal human. I anticipated that she would get a much bigger mana pool soon enough. Escalating was in her nature, wasn't it? But either way even a single percent of my affinities was a lot for somebody who had nothing. Twenty million points of blizzard affinity was enough to consume the city in a snowstorm even with her tiny mana pools. The void was equally impressive since I had already tested that the powers of her world worked based on affinity sometimes. Other times they didn't use the stuff, but most of them at least used a little affinity to work. Now she could cut that bit off and ruin their day.

"_I am Abyss. Call to me if you desperately need power and I might grant it, though with your three powers you should be fine if you are cautious," _I whispered one last time._ "Now feel the cold inside you… and let just a sliver of it be free!"_

I stopped our link and watched. I heard the locker slam shut and the lock click. The three girls laughed and exchanged high fives for a whole three seconds. Then the locker exploded and they screamed.

Snow and harsh winds flooded the halls. All the halls. I used my space affinity to make myself intangible and laughed, though nobody heard me over the roar of the storm. I felt that sliver of blizzard affinity work hard within me to do Taylor's wishes. Her fury was channeled into it, making it work ever harder for her.

I teleported outside to see the school in chaos. Snow was slowly collecting on the grounds. Winds whipped and after a second a boom rang out as a lightning bolt wildly shot out to hit a flagpole. My grin split my face and I felt like I had just unleashed something scary on the world and I had a wonderful show to watch.

The downside was that people definitely knew that Taylor was a cape. But to me that was a good thing. Some people worked best under the spotlight. I felt like Taylor was one of those people. She needed to be put under pressure to grow stronger. I had given her a pep talk, an ego boost with her power, which was off the scale compared to most of the people in her world, and most of all she knew she wasn't alone. When she was at her darkest point I held out a hand and gave her something she needed.

I would be keeping an eye on her, of course, but I would let her suffer the consequences of her own decisions for the most part until I decided to come to this world in full. Now _that _would be a party. I couldn't wait. For now, though, I teleported back inside the school, now filled with snow and frost, and stopped the camera I set up before teleporting it into Taylor's bag, the girl herself looking in shock at her three tormentors and the snow around her.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I had stuck around for another half an hour to see how things went. Taylor had a brief fight with Sophia and accidentally sent a bolt of lightning at her, though it was a very tiny one thankfully. I wondered how much of her power she had unleashed. It was probably about ten percent. Two million affinity was quite a bit, after all. She would likely scale it down even more and get a feel for it later. For now, though, she got a private escort to the protectorate building and a long, long talk.

I was just happy that she found the camera I had left for her in her backpack. Tangible proof that I had existed was important and if it helped to pin Sophia Hess to the wall then good. Screw that girl. Besides, Taylor's face when she opened it up and saw the lone video on it? Priceless. I could feel the sheer joy she had through our link and how she immediately felt a bit better about our deal. I had restrained myself from sending a message to her but still sent a distant feeling of satisfaction to her. The upwards turning at the corners of her lips showed how she felt that.

I witnessed a brief series of hugs and fury from her father and then legalities and a lot of accusations and red tape got involved so I got bored and left. I didn't want to have to deal with that mess.

Really I just wanted to take a break for the rest of the day but only Ophis was home at the moment and she was asleep in her quiet room. Esdeath had gone out somewhere to do something, quite possibly hunting down rogue devils for sport, and Kuroka was out too. I didn't know where. Maybe she was with her or doing recon on her sister or doing some late work stuff. I wasn't going to ask but she'd probably tell me later.

That left me with a few things to do, but I didn't feel like researching right now. I had just helped a damsel in distress and I wanted to do something proactive… like save another damsel in distress or beat up a dragon. But which one?

I mulled that over for just a second before I realized that actually thinking about 'which one' was ridiculous because there was an infinite number of princesses to save and dragons to slay. So I played 'eenie, meenie, miney, moe' with dimensions and left.

I opened my eyes, looking down far below me. I was falling. Then I stopped falling and went intangible. A crypt lay below me, looking a little decrepit but in good condition regardless if one ignored the moss and dirtiness.

Around the crypt several maids, though in unorthodox uniforms, and some demons chatted while taking some dirt powder from buckets and rubbing it on the few clean parts of the crypt. What the hell? Oh, it's a disguise. The crypt was likely new before but now they're trying to make it seem as though it's abandoned or older than it actually is.

I went a little closer and my magical senses tickled at me. The creatures were powerful. Not too powerful but hardly pushovers. Esdeath could handle two, maybe three of them. But they were just grunts, right? I could see no reason for maids that did menial work to be very strong. I should use some insurance.

"_Ophis, I'm on an adventure but it's a bit dangerous. Would you-"_ I felt her soul press against mine and squeeze into me. My aura flickered around me before I adjusted to the change.

"Thanks," I said out loud. I was basically a god now. So I fell to the ground and started walking around, getting a closer look.

"-and if we get that part too well then people might get suspicious," a red-haired maid with twin braids seemed to argue. She had a little beanie on her head

"Shoot them," Another with an abnormal crosshair pupil and an eyepatch said in monotone. Her uniform had a small mantle of camouflaged cloth on it.

"Well yeah but Lord Ainz might be kinda mad. It's not what he ordered."

"Lord Ainz's goals are our goals!" A bullheaded demon proclaimed. "I'd love to devour any intruders whole yet Nazerick comes first!" I felt like I had heard enough and slipped down the stairs into the crypt. There were a few light enchantments on the crypt, probably wards to keep everyone out, but I slipped past them effortlessly.

I was a little disappointed by the halls around this Nazerick place. I was hoping for some sort of incalculable evil but all I saw were some skeletons reanimated through life magic. Lame. Observe called them death knights and they were somewhat strong but not overly so.

I went deeper into the crypt. It seemed average at first. It was all just graves and some little mausoleums. I found a few chests full of gold but they were warded to alert people if anybody took anything. I severed the magic on one and took the gold and a few magic items just for the sake of it. The place seemed kind of like a dungeon from RPGs with the chests.

I perked up a little when I found some stairs and descended. I flew down them in a moment rather than walk and looked around. It was more of the same…

I continued looking, taking less time to inspect everything, and came across a few vaguely interesting things. A chapel, a black room filled with insects and a giant cockroach - no way in hell I was going in there, and an impressive looking vault in the middle of a fancy graveyard against the walls of the crypt.

The vault was grand looking. It was trimmed with gold and made of black marble. In the center of it was a silver lock and a large keyhole almost as big as I was. It was also enchanted to the brim with wards and reinforcing magic.

There was at least a thread of magic leading away from the vault door. I hoped that it was a power source or a key and followed it to a small cottage in the corner of the graveyard. I almost wanted to walk in, but I hadn't come looking for a fight. The least I could do was try to play along. Hopefully there would be nicer sights down farther below the crypt.

So I knocked politely.

"Mrm! Coming!" somebody called out. I waited a moment before a youngish girl in a scarlet dress opened the door. She was paler than Ruby and had bone-white hair and red eyes. My first thought was albinism but I read some of her affinities, particularly a large one for blood. I glanced at her mouth to see some sharp fangs barely poking out. "Huh? Do I know you?"

"I need the key to get past the door. Would you mind if I borrowed it? I would give it back, of course," I said smoothly.

"Where'd your key go? I thought everybody got a temporary one while they worked up above." She seemed confused.

"I had mine with me but when I came down I found that it was gone. I don't really mind anybody borrowing mine but I didn't realize that they had until I got down here. If it's too much trouble I can go back up."

"Nah, just use mine," The vampire said with a grin and a wave of her hand. She turned around and walked off for a moment and came back with a large golden key. "Here. Bring it back after you're done with it."

"Thank you," I said with a smile. I had kind of been hoping for a fight, though.

"Mmm… I do know a way you could thank me." Her eyes trailed down me. I laughed, not expecting that.

"Maybe some other time. I have work to do right now." She seemed delighted by that for some reason and giggled.

"I'll see you around! Oh! What floor do you stay on? Nobody here likes it when I flirt with them."

"Well," I wondered if I wanted to lie. I didn't actually want to fight the vampire since I might feel a bit bad. She was cute and nobody had actually tried to hurt me. There was no reason to rob somebody's home, even if it was a crypt, and take all their loot. "I tend to alternate a lot. I mostly stay around the middle floors, though."

"Mm, I'll find you~" she said with a gleam in her eyes. I was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable and shrugged with another smile and left while the vampire laughed and turned back inside.

I opened the vault with the key and slid it through the mail slot of the cottage before descending deeper down. I was having a pretty nice time wandering around and I was happy to keep doing so.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Down farther in Nazerick things got much more interesting and I began requiring keys from the most powerful monster of the floor to continue. There was a large underground lake with a golem where I stole the key, a glacier where I simply asked the large bug guy to borrow it and he provided it without hesitation with a request that I return it quickly, a jungle and colosseum where I stole the key again since the two elves holding it were busy messing around with some giant hamster, and I finally arrived at a giant lava filled floor. I blitzed through that one with a scowl on my face, stealing the key from a demon in a red pinstripe suit seemingly chained to a desk, the poor guy.

I didn't find anything at all on the eighth floor besides some wolf creatures that I growled at and was growled at in turn. The key was in an unoccupied cave. It was the only time that there hadn't been a guardian. It was a bit eerie.

The ninth floor, though, was the staff quarters where I finally had some fun. It was actually nice looking for once. The walls were a pure marble with stylings of precious metals adding some flair to it. Where there wasn't marble or gold there was a rich red wallpaper. I thought it all looked a little pompous, but very nice. It also had the most amenities. I saw some ridiculous things like a nail salon, baths, and a grocery store. Why was there a grocery store down at the bottom of a crypt?! I supposed that everyone had to eat somehow.

I enjoyed myself a little bit, chatted with a bartender with a mushroom for a head while I enjoyed some drinks he made from magical ingredients, and eventually walked down the final set of stairs.

There was only one entrance to the tenth floor and it was beyond opulent. It was genuinely pretentious just how much precious metal was used to line the wall decorations and how much furniture had magical metals wrought into it. I recognized a few like orichalcum and adamantite, of which I had done some work with, and I knew that it served no practical purpose on furniture other than to look rich as all hell. It was the kind of wealth that I found myself a little disappointed with since the metal could be so much more useful than as furniture.

When I passed through some heavy gilded doors I looked around to see a throne room. But there was nobody sitting in it. I tapped my foot against the ground just to hear the echo of my footstep in the empty hall and felt a bit uncomfortable. Still, I had come so far. I may as well finish my exploration of the tomb. So I went down a door to the throne's side and walked down a much plainer hall with only a little gold lining it.

At the end of the plain hall I finally opened the door, not expecting anything, and saw a skeleton sitting calmly at a desk writing something.

"Yes?" he said, looking up. Red lights substituted eyes as he set his pen down. I took note of his huge reserves of mana. Almost five million points worth of it and a variety of affinities, though his death affinity was the strongest.

"Would you be Lord Ainz?" I guessed. The skeleton blinked, which is to say that his red lights disappeared and then reappeared a moment later.

"Who are you? How did you get here?!" he said sharply. A golden staff appeared in his hands and he stood up, a black mantle appearing over his shoulders.

"My name is Abyss and as for how I got here I just walked in after sneaking past the workers at the top of the tomb. Nobody thought to stop me for some reason."

"You…" Ainz was momentarily lost for words. "Impossible! The guardians would kick you out! That's what they _do_!"

"The guardians? Are they the strong ones in here?" He nodded. "Well the vampire flirted with me first of all." Ainz made a sort of grunt of despair at that and seemed to have a headache. It was impressive how he managed to convey that without facial muscles but he managed. "I stole the key from the golem after it didn't respond to me, asked politely for it from the warrior in the glacier, just picked it up and walked away while those elven twins were playing with a giant hamster, and I really don't like hot environments, they make the fur of my ears clump, so I stole the key that time too, and nothing impeded me on my way down here."

"The wards!" He sounded strangled.

"I specialize in antimagic." I shrugged. Ainz's bleached hand met his face with a clack.

"And you didn't even cast a spell," he groaned.

"Well some wolves growled at me on the third floor," I offered. "And I had to do some climbing on the lake on the fourth so I didn't get wet. I saw some creepy stuff beneath the water."

"This is a travesty… at the very least you're non-hostile. Could I ask for ten minutes of your time while I gather my subordinates?"

"Sure. I have nothing but time."

[|||| =-= ||||]

"For SHAME!" A dramatic gasp arose from the crowd of monsters all at once and small concerned mutterings echoed through the throne room hall. "For SHAME, citizens of Nazerick! Today is undoubtedly the greatest failure we have encountered in this world thus far, no, in EITHER of our worlds!" Ainz's tone was harsh with reprimand and he let the stunned silence of the throne room sink in for a few seconds. I felt some strange sort of magic trigger in his soul but decided not to ask, especially not in a public setting.

"This evening Nazerick was invaded," he said a bit more calmly. Another round of gasps ensued. "Without the slightest difficulty, without casting a spell, without drawing a sword, he made his way to the throne room and beyond where he found me alone in my office. Each and every one of you simply let him, an unfamiliar person, pass. Worse still, guardians, you _lent him your floor keys!_" He sounded furious at this point. Some of the powerful members, all of which were assembled on the stage beside him, stood in shock. The vampire almost looked to have tears in her eyes. A lady in a narrow white dress _did_ have tears in her eyes with fury of her own mixed in.

"Thankfully for all of us, the intruder was not here to cause harm." He cooled his tone. "It is in light of this that I have called you here today. His entrance to our sacred home was a catastrophe the likes not seen before, yet it is without consequence due to sheer luck. Had he the intent to sabotage Nazerick we would be helpless to stop him as havoc was wrought on the sanctums of our tomb." Another ominous silence passed. Everyone looked frustrated or near tears at this point. I saw a lot of gripped fists in the crowd.

"Abyss, step forward," he commanded. I didn't like being ordered but I complied. I smiled innocently at the crows and a variety of hisses and growls met me. The guardians were looking at me in shock, fear, and anger in mixed amounts. I couldn't tell with some of them like the weird pink fetus thing with wings - where the hell was that when I was descending, or the icy warrior that had brushed me off when I asked for his key. "If you would relinquish our keys?" I pulled the few keys I had from my soul space, only the three of them I had stolen rather than borrowed, and handed them to the lich.

"Thank you for your compliance," he said with an incline of his head. "Now, would you please explain why you were here, exactly?"

"I was looking for a fight at first," I said calmly. I noticed how my voice seemed to echo throughout the hall easily. "But all the enemies I encountered were too weak to be worth my time until I met the guardian of the third floor."

"Shalltear," Ainz told me. The vampire winced with a hard blush of shame on her face.

"I had at first planned on fighting her but she didn't seem hostile at all so I asked for the key to borrow, making the excuse that my key had disappeared at the work site at the surface, which I walked past under a simple invisibility spell. I used it and returned it before leaving and continuing onwards. I stole the rest of the keys or simply picked them up in the few cases where there were no guardians present. Only the guardian of the fifth floor gave me a key willingly besides Shalltear."

"Cocytus," Ainz sighed disappointedly. "Abyss, you have my thanks that you have not approached us with ill intent. However, you put me in a difficult position. I cannot simply allow you to leave Nazerick should you put us at risk, yet you have committed no crimes against us. With this in mind I offer you this. Stay here, in Nazerick, and in time you may be known as another of us." The glares on me turned neutral in a split second as the Lord of Nazarick offered me his deal.

"While I appreciate the offer deeply I have to decline. I have a home and a family to return to," I replied.

"Nazerick is perfectly capable of providing for your kin. I would consider them under my protection," he responded.

"Thank you, yet there is one more factor of issue in your proposal, Lord Ainz," I said.

"Oh?"

"I am not subservient to anyone. In fact, despite being within your halls I consider myself to be on equal grounds with you." I anticipated anger from the audience so I immediately flared my aura channeling void and the blizzard. Frost crept up the walls and magic was released. Ainz's aura was released himself and his magic writhed under mine. He was a powerful mage but now powerful enough. He destroyed cities. I destroyed continents.

"I see," he said calmly. "Residents of Nazerick, evacuate while I and the guardians-"

"No." I sapped their magic with a controlled flare of void. The guardians synchronously stumbled, fell, or hunched over in pain. Ainz shook as his magic was torn from him but managed to stand tall. "I have no intention of killing any of you, Ainz, nor your family. When I found this place I was looking for a place in need of… vanquishing. Tell me, do I need to tear this tomb to the ground? Do you have any plans to kill innocents?"

"… I understand," Ainz said, though his voice was once more choked and a little pained as well. I pulled back my aura.

"Good," I said in satisfaction. "Don't do anything atrocious, cold blooded murder, terrorism, or generally harm people who don't deserve it and I'd be happy to be the best of friends with you, Lord Ainz."

"If I may, Lord Abyss." My gaze turned curious at the new addition to my name. "Would you introduce yourself formally so we may meet properly, as equals?" I blinked at that.

"I suppose so. I am Abyss Mavros, first apostle of the infinite dragon god Ophis as well as her lover, wielder of the void, and fledgling god. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"A pleasure," he responded a little stiffly, doubtlessly thinking the opposite. "I am Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of Nazerick and last of the forty one supreme beings. I hope we may work through our differences and emerge with a new understanding of each other." I smiled at that. It was a little flowery but about what I was aiming for nonetheless.

"Goodbye, Ainz. I'll meet you again soon enough, though I intend to see all of this world that I can in time. If there are others like you I think I'll enjoy myself here." I tapped the void and disappeared in an instant.

Those guys seemed like a lot of fun if they'd stop with the glares. I hoped that Ainz wasn't so straight-laced when he was away from his subjects but I doubted it. Maybe I should stay away from that world for the time being. Nazarick seemed like it was just forming a power base and I'd love some tour guides.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Shorter chapter this week but next chapter is an interlude and a long one at that. Again, stay safe. Especially if you're on the west coast. Washington and California aren't looking pretty from what I've been hearing. Anyways, enjoy. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 16**= ||||]

It was almost noon a few days after I had my fun with Ainz Ooal Gown and his crypt, that I heard a knock at my door. I looked at Kuroka to make sure that I hadn't misheard. She was laying halfway on me while we watched adventure time and had her ears perked up and was looking towards the door. I got up with a sigh and hit the pause button on the remote. The nekoshou wavered between laying back down and following me before getting up herself and stretching as she walked after me.

I took a short look over the house before I got to the door. It was a little messy, some neat piles of empty snack wrappers and bags on a few tables and a stack of plates in the sink, messes neither I or my parallels had bothered to clean up recently. I wasn't quite fit for visitors… well I didn't want anybody to bother me anyways. That's why I moved to the middle of Maine. The only things bothering me were my lovers and the wildlife that kept eating all the flowers around the forest, magical or not.

Putting those thoughts aside I opened the door and was sadly unsurprised by the person standing politely outside.

She was supernaturally beautiful - it was a little sad how common that was becoming for me - with long golden hair falling down her back held in a ponytail with a Japanese styled crown and a red ribbon while golden fox ears were settled on top of her head. She wore a long white coat that fell a little past her waist with a fluffy fur lining around the neck and was looking at me with a little nervousness, though she hid it pretty well. Nine fluffy fox tails, as golden as her ears and hair, waved behind her.

If I hadn't been exceptionally good at sensing emotions through aura I'd say she was nervous but keeping it together out of respect, but instead I knew she was feeling a grim readiness and a significant amount of fear.

"Yasaka," I said respectfully. A little exasperation slipped through my tone. I didn't want the leader of yokai and Ameratsu's high priestess giving me headaches. From what I knew she was actually a very pleasant person, but with her came work, the bane of my lazy Sunday. It was actually Thursday but every day was Sunday to somebody rich and unemployed.

"Abyss Mavros. It's good to finally make your acquaintance," she said with a polite smile. "May I come in?"

"That depends as to what you're here for." If she was here for my deification across DxD or for something petty like 'please save my kingdom from the Khaos Brigade' I was shunting her to Elseria and letting her and Irisai sort things out with her, consequences be damned. Akame was staying with them right now as well and was taking a more official position as head investigator within the leadership. It was more like head assassin, but investigator sounded better and made people think that she was just a spy.

"I'm here to discuss the potentiality of your cult becoming a legally sanctioned religion within my dominion. I'd also like to know about your connection with the nekoshou." I looked at her steadily as I wondered whether I could send her to my cult and avoid extra work.

I sighed lightly as I came to terms with the situation on my hands and stepped aside, gesturing for her to come inside.

"Thank you-Kuroka?" Yasaka blinked at my girlfriend.

"Oh shit," she cursed, looking with wide eyes at the priestess.

"What are-!" Yasaka looked angry immediately but then glanced at me as I roused my aura a little bit.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't yell at one of my lovers," I said calmly.

"… Of course. You have my apologies," she said smoothly after a moment. The look she sent Kuroka a moment later filled with promise and a good amount of anger had her smile nervously and shift from foot to foot once.

"Come on. I don't have any decent tea but I do have coffee."

"I'd appreciate it," Kuroka moved to step away when Yasaka grabbed her arm in a motion that didn't look forceful at all if it wasn't for Kuroka's wince at her grip. "Do you have servants to prepare the drinks or may I spend a moment with my former subject?" My girlfriend sent me a pleading glance.

"Give her a say in things. I'll be back in about five minutes." I was given a nod and a practiced smile before she walked elegantly away, her prisoner literally digging her heels into the floor, making a squeaking noise as she was forced to leave.

I stepped into the kitchen and took my time making myself a hot cocoa with extra marshmallows and a coffee with dash of milk mixed in. I didn't drink coffee often but Kuroka and occasionally Esdeath did if they were tired in the mornings. I just knew how to make it from the machine we had.

Before long I was hearing loud voices from the dining room that I mostly ignored, the two yokai arguing about one thing or another. I started taking my time, moving with a deliberate slowness while listening into the conversation.

"-Could have been there for you but you ran away!"

"You weren't there when it mattered! My people - my _species_ \- were slaughtered like animals by the people you decided to trust and what did you do? Nothing! Nobody did-"

"What would I do? Declare war on every devil in the underworld?"

"-Anything! Everybody died and nothing happened! Was that how much my whole village was worth to you?"

"How dare you! I made trips yearly into the underworld just to see my people in the colony-"

"You waved and said pretty things but when heads started flying you fucked off back to your palace."

"I made speeches! I made an embargo!"

"Giving them the _silent treatment_, oooooo, so very proactive."

"I demanded reparations. I received them."

"Reparations don't replace innocent lives!"

"Of course they don't! Do you think I didn't cry over the massacre?! That I didn't - and don't - care?!"

"I think that my sister was enslaved by the satan's sister, handed to the bratty princess on a silver platter, and you just let it happen!"

"Your sister suffered because you killed a devil you willingly consigned yourself-"

"Asmodai raped me! And he was going to do the same to Shirone!" My mug's handle cracked under my grip when I heard the hurt in Kuroka's voice. I took a deep breath and used my unity affinity to make the mug whole.

"You were in hell! What could I do to stop an established devil tradition you yourself agreed to-"

"I agreed to serve him as a bishop! I didn't agree to be fucked every night by-"

"Coffee," I said intrusively. Both of the women stopped and looked at me with eyes still filled with hurt and accusations while I set the mug and a saucer down in front of Yasaka. I put my hand on Kuroka's shoulder and spoke quietly but still loudly enough for Yasaka to hear. "Go for now. I think both of you need some time to prepare yourself for a talk like this." She nodded after a moment of hesitation and walked away a little quickly.

I sat down across from Yasaka and sipped my drink while I waited for the priestess to collect herself. It took her a minute and a few sips of coffee to settle down, though she didn't seem to like the brew I made as she expressed through a scrunching up of her nose after her first sip.

"I'm sorry for bringing such drama to your home." She bowed her head apologetically when she finally decided to speak.

"You didn't mean to."

"I requested time alone with her."

"You rushed into it. That was your biggest mistake. But it seems like you had a lot of tension with her so at least you got it out of your system. Now, you wanted to authenticate the cult I have?"

"Yes." Her head raised up and she grew more focused, politics coming back into focus over the emotions and arguments from just a minute ago. "The yokai faction, while large, rich, and well organized, has only a few truly strong individuals. We have exactly three beings which could be called ultimate class including myself in the western faction, five in the eastern faction. Most of our power comes from our numbers and our benefactors in the Japanese pantheon." I nodded at this, already knowing it.

"It's to my understanding that you're the more influential between Nurahiyon, right?" She nodded.

"Nurahiyon is old. He is more interested in reminiscing over the 'olden days', typically the gedo period. While he is the more material leader among the yokai most of his work is done by his lieutenants, mainly Magari, the only ultimate class nekomata. Meanwhile I am the sole influence over the western faction and the spiritual leader over all yokai." I hummed in acknowledgement. I knew most of that already, though I thought that Nurahiyon was more powerful than Yasaka presented him.

"I don't suppose you want me to unite the western and eastern yokai, do you?"

"Not at all. I want a more direct benefactor than the kami. They tend to appear in our hours of need but for the most part they prefer to reside in their own affairs, which tend to be chaotic. Susanoo keeps causing chaos, Tsukuyomi refuses to act out of laziness, and Ameratsu is too busy keeping her own pantheon in order to spend much time on her worshippers. You, on the other hand, treat your followers perhaps better than any other god I've heard of."

She leaned in a little closer to me, her eyes glittering. "Tales of your followers are being whispered around the world, the worshippers of the apostle of Ophis, who are gifted with a fragment of his power, which can snuff out even the strongest spell with ease and wield all elements of the storm like an elemental, no need for a spell circle whatsoever."

"My followers are connected to my soul, if weakly. Some of my excess power slips through to them, most notably the void. My domains are a little varied but void is the most prominent, though my power over blizzards has grown recently."

"I see… if I may ask how strong you were…"

"I'd tell you that I'm strong enough to freeze over the whole of the US twice over if I pushed myself and had no resistance. My power over void is theoretically infinite." Yasaka seemed to pale somewhat. The fear in her spiked before she appeared to think for a moment and it stabilized to a cautious emotion.

"That is impressive."

"I have a lot of weaknesses, though I could be a lot worse. I can list thirty beings off the top of my head that lurk outside this reality that could beat me without much effort. I'm fostering some apostles that will be able to cover these weaknesses."

"It's hard to imagine you as weak by any means," she muttered.

"It's easy to look at somebody greater than yourself and call them the pinnacle of something." Her mouth turned a slight grin as she took a sip of her coffee. She was more than halfway done with it.

"And wise, too."

"If I was wise I would stop causing so much trouble for myself."

"Perhaps." She refocused and grew more serious. "As your cult grows you'll be needing more ways to legitimize yourself and a way of showing that you're not going to be another Khaos Brigade. There's a lot of fear over you after your actions at the three factions summit and that can easily turn to hatred. I'd rather be friends, frankly. You don't seem like the world destroying type."

"I actively avoid doing so," I said dryly.

"That's good to know. And I have to ask, are you a nekoshou?"

"Not in the slightest," I said honestly. "But I am having a nekoshou child, just so you know. Kuroka's pregnant."

"… Congratulations," she said, pausing in shock at the news.

"If you want to be technical, I'm a homunculi of my first body made of living metal and some other magical materials. I've died, ah… three times? I think it's three times. You could also say four times since I was once possessing somebody and they… anyways, my body is artificial. Kuroka's child will be a full nekoshou but a stronger nekoshou than any that have come before them."

"That's… good," she decided. A soft smile crossed her face. "Thank you for telling me. So you accept my offer?"

"So long as you're fair I'll lend your faction my cult's more powerful members and if you have a genuinely good reason for me to step in I will personally help out. Just don't expect me to appear in public often or help manage your nation. I'll send you to my high priestess to handle the details. In exchange, assist my cult in gaining formal recognition and to deal with their problems, though there aren't many at the moment." Yasaka nodded with a more genuine smile, her eyes clearly happy.

"I will reach out to you to later if anything important comes up. For now…"

"Here's my card. Now take it outside the house." I formed, enchanted, and handed her a thin card made of ice with my name and the number to me or my cult on it. She took it and nodded, her mouth set in a line as she left the table to find Kuroka. I leaned back and set a parallel to do the dishes, glad that it was over.

I was just surprised she hadn't tried to flirt with me or something. DxD logic wasn't dissimilar from hentai logic. Maybe it was that I hadn't looked at her breasts for the entire time talking.

Did I just miss that opportunity? I'm a god. I could have totally gotten away with it. Sure I'm not exactly lusty but damn…

[|||| =-= ||||]

Not three hours later more trouble arrived. Some days were just bad days.

' … _Help.'_ I felt the word from my connection to my followers. It was hardly the first time that I had heard that word. My followers had been in combat before and sometimes they died. Not often but a few of them had fallen in combat before. I generally gave them a boost of my void affinity, giving them access to a full one percent of my power, but if they still were going to die then they died.

It was inevitable that some of my more martial followers would fall in battle. I couldn't be there all the time and I already divvied up my affinities among more than a thousand people at this point. Even though my void affinity was constantly growing now, I could only give so much power to my followers.

This follower, though, was Taylor Hebert, who I had a vested interest in and who slew a god and the legends of her world with two hands and a lot of bugs. Given the power to vanquish cities I knew she would turn out different so long as she was forced to learn and adapt. One of the driving forces behind her story was escalation and how she herself matured as a parahuman.

But of course I would help… so long as she learned from it.

I delved into our connection, getting a vision through her eyes. I felt her magic, mana reserves emptied, aura damaged, and a woman in somewhat gaudy armour holding a grenade launcher aimed at her. Beside her was a girl in white robes with a red cross on them backing away with her hands protecting her face.

I knew roughly what was going on. So I acted.

First I took control of Taylor's body, wresting it away from her with my dominant position in our connection and my own experience with purely aura battles. My own aura filled hers and I reworked how it flowed through her body in an instant, my own experience manipulating aura utterly outstripping her amateurish flailing at body enhancement. Even with Taylor's unpolished body I would be superhumanly fast. I went through how I could use that as an icy blade sprouted from my hand in an instant and my other hand raised upwards, void at my fingertips. I could always use a blade, after all.

Just to distinguish myself as different from Taylor I pronounced my aura, making a red glow appear around me, casting the area around me in a bloody light. It was pretty intimidating if you didn't know how purely cosmetic the glow was.

I twitched my fingers and a portal between dimensions sprouted in front of the grenade flying for just an instant. To an untrained eye it would appear to have just disappeared as it went into the void between dimensions, never to return.

"Wha-" the masked bomber started. I didn't wait on her. I had thankfully re-read the novels and knew about her bombs planted over the city, the toe-rings she used for remote detonations, and the suicide switch she had. I wasn't up for any of that.

A pillar of ice appeared in front of her, sprouting in a tenth of a second at most, which was slow for me. Piloting my affinities through another's soul slowed me down. While my blizzard affinity was working I had it flash freeze the area around me to ice. It would surprise everyone in the area, leaving me able to deal with any other threats.

Taylor's body turned to an ice sculpture and out of the ice pillar a new Taylor emerged as I blatantly ripped off how Esdeath used the body of worlds skill, turning one's own limbs to their element in a faux-teleport. I was already in motion with my ice sabre, slicing through Bakuda's legs without resistance. I got fancy, hopping upwards while spinning to cut through her arm with my blade while another blade formed in an instant, as thin as a razor, and severed the other arm. A leg kicked out with more blizzard affinity into her chest, where an icicle sprouted.

Bakuda flew back, limbless and impaled by an icicle, and I spent a full second icing over her stumps to prevent blood loss. I needed the bomber alive because of the possible deadman's switch.

With that settled I turned to the other matters. All around the area we were in, some kind of warehouse, there were frightened Asian faces. Didn't Bakuda implant bombs into her gangster's heads? These would be the kids pressed into her service, then. Since the bombs were disabled they were a nonfactor. However, Panacea might still be hurt by them… maybe.

Just to be safe I performed the teleporting trick again back into the ice sculpture and grabbed the healer. Taylor pushed at my control again, thinking that I was going to hurt her… friend. They were friends? Good for them.

"WHAT?!" she screamed as I stepped towards her. She looked with bulging eyes at Bakuda, now defeated by me. I ignored her yelling and grabbed her arm as I tensed. A pillar of ice sprang up underneath us and lightning boomed as I blasted through the ceiling into the air, to the cue of more screaming. I continued ignoring Panacea and held her securely with my aura enhanced strength.

It was easy to see what had happened. The warehouse was in a seemingly abandoned industrial area. Not far away, Lung, who had already turned into a sizable drake already (a twentyish foot lizard on two legs was NOT a dragon), which meant regeneration, pyrokinesis, and all the perks of being a twenty foot tall supernatural lizard.

Lung was blasting fire at a frightened looking girl in a charred white dress who just so happened to be flying. Glory Girl, she was called. She was one of the local superheroes. Taylor had certainly been making friends with New Wave lately it seemed. It made sense with her attending Arcadia. Besides Glory Girl there were also two teens in white and blue or violet costumes, one shooting some sort of laser and the other making a shield of energy. The… Pelhams? The second side of New Wave from the Dallons, which had Panacea and Glory Girl. They were the far more stable side of the hero team.

Now what to do about Lung? To me it was obvious. He was a gang leader with a penchant for killing and was willing to kill some dumbass teens for stealing from him in the very beginning of the Worm series. He was dead meat.

I could vaguely feel Taylor in the back of my mind yelling at me to stop, that she could take it from here. I ignored her. I wasn't going to be summoned for her convenience. Besides, she could blame this on me just like my brutality when dealing with Bakuda. Her public image as a hero would be a bit dirtied by the mind controlling murderer that could take over her body, but thus was life.

Say, how long had I been possessing Taylor? Ah, four seconds.

I fell to the warehouse roof and dropped Panacea without much care and immediately turned to lightning, dashing to Lung's face. I reappeared with a boom, my feet on his snout, and I dropped while thrusting my sword into his brain. He roared, though it was a bit high pitched, and I leaped away into the air as he shook his head, doing a backflip for flair. I almost lost my form in the air, not used to Taylor's long legs throwing my balance off, but the flip turned out all right.

So a lobotomy wouldn't kill Lung, regenerator and all, which meant bigger guns. Easily done.

I leaned more on my blizzard affinity and charged up a blast of true lightning, the kind that blew apart brick houses and left craters where they hit. It only took a second working my magic through Taylor's resisting soul before I let it loose and saw a sizable chunk of his face blasted away to mush. Nearby the heroes fighting Lung flinched at the booming. I had protected myself from it by stilling the air around Taylor's ears, of course.

Dust, he was so slow. Bakuda was too. I had been getting too used to battling Esdeath or Kuroka. They were as fast as I was if I didn't actively use my aura to empower myself, sometimes even faster. These people were moving like molasses in comparison. My high INT was making my conquest of Taylor's foes almost boring.

I could have been fancy and lodged an icicle inside of him and exploded it or pulled the air away from his vicinity so he couldn't go all pyrokinetic, but what would be the point? Lung was too weak to properly fight me even without tricks. I wouldn't treat him like he could actually fight. It would be a waste of time.

Instead I pulsed the full power of my blizzard affinity into a single lightning bolt, getting as much power output from it as I could in a single moment and sculpted that to not destroy the whole city block, focusing the power at the head of the bolt. There wasn't a need for mana or any real focus. My worst spell was still leagues better than Taylor's best when it came to magic of any sort.

"Wh… Taylor?" Glory Girl yelled in confusion. Her ears were apparently ringing with the boom.

"Did you-" Shielder, the blue suited Pelham, never got to finish his sentence. The city boomed as I released my lightning bolt on Lung. The area lit up and so did Lung. Blood and charred viscera flew away from me due to the blast and I growled as I was blinded again, worse than last time. Taylor screamed in my head, accusing me of injustice and raging against how I had stolen her body and was scaring her friends.

Was I doing the Hermione thing again? … Nah. Not here. Taylor actually asked for this, asking me playing as a demon of sorts to help her, and I was hardly preying on insecurities. The girl who choked her idol to death by suffocating her in bugs was NOT going to be that traumatized by Lung's death. If she was a little traumatized she could have some time to get over it.

"Your eyes suck," I complained out loud. It was a little off putting to hear a girl's voice instead of my own but not by much. I had been in stranger situations. "Whatever. Remember, Taylor, your life is mine, as our bargain dictates. I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to defend it every weekend. Somebody as weak as Bakuda should be child's play with what I've given you. Use your head, girl. Make a light blizzard around the city and use it to track down Bakuda, for example. You can sense through your storms, hopefully."

I beheld Lung's corpse. He was half scaly slag and half incinerated char. The back half of him looked almost rubbery by how it was melted, the scales cracked and blasted into pieces. On parts where his scales were gone but the skin remained you could vaguely see nerves in an agitated red color standing out, utterly fried by several trillion watts entering his body. The typical lightning bolt had about ten billion. More was better in this case.

"T-... Taylor? Glory Girl asked fearfully. I realized that I was stalling and released my hold on Taylor's body, though I still peered through her eyes. She stood in the same still pose for a moment, as though not aware that she could control her body again, before a small shudder went through her and she doubled over, her hands on the concrete as she vomited onto the asphalt and heaved afterwards. Teardrops fell to the pavement and she shut her eyes harshly. "Taylor!"

The girl rushed towards her friend and held her, though she looked green as well after seeing Lung's corpse. There was silence as Taylor finished vomiting and wiped her face, still crying lightly. It didn't take long to collect herself. During that time I gave her some parting words.

"_I'd recommend not telling them that you had a demon possess your body. And don't tell them about me. I'd prefer to stay anonymous for now. Additionally, I will need a decent lodging soon. I'd recommend killing Coil and handing me his base. He kidnapped Dinah Alcott during the bank heist and she is currently held in his base. Go play hero and save the princess. Recruit Tattletale if you want. She would gladly shoot Coil. Finally, get stronger. You're pathetically weak right now in comparison to the things to come… Goodbye, Taylor. It won't be long until I have another task for you, so don't delay."_

I could feel an anger towards me in Taylor through our link but it was overshadowed by a bitterness aimed at herself. I could guess that she was internalizing something like 'honestly what were you expecting from the demon?' That was mixed with relief that the battle was over, guilt for the harm she had caused Bakuda and Lung, and anticipation towards the future and what was to come.

"I… there was a master," she gasped out after my monologue. "I didn't know I… I thought it was just ice and the forcefield." Liar. I could tell without even using our connection that she was being deceptive but to the teenagers who just saw a dragon get vaporized? They didn't even consider that she was lying. Too much was happening for them to catch up.

Seeing Taylor complying with my orders I pulled back from our connection. I couldn't push her too hard but I couldn't be soft with her either. I wasn't sure if I was handling her right but I was at least content that I had the leash with her power. I didn't want her as an enemy for certain. I'd rather her as an enforcer of mine that I could deploy to handle problems for me, a 'champion' if I needed to use flowery words.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"You look tired," Akame observed as I walked into my lab. She was sitting on the long table against the wall, her sword and a small pile of gear beside her while her bare feet dangled, the shorty. She was wearing a red vest along with tight black pants and a black undershirt, giving her a sort of slim and dangerous look. Considering the multiple sheathed knives in the pile of gear it was an accurate description.

"I _am_ tired," I said bluntly. "I'll have to cancel our session. I'm really not feeling up to studying Murasame right now. I have enough problems as is."

"You have problems?" She seemed skeptical as she began disappearing knives into her clothes. She was about to stab her calf when she paused and seemed to remember that she didn't have her boots on.

"People problems. Power doesn't poof away the problems of others. Especially teenagers. I had to deal with a diplomatic contact with the religious leader of the Yokai earlier, though really she's more of a queen. She nearly had a fight with Kuroka because of some bad history." I looked at the cabinet filled with glowing vials nearby, all of it liquid affinity from me or those close to me, and wondered whether I was up to adding to my collection.

"Talking to people is annoying. You have to tough through it," she said wisely, nodding to herself as if to affirm the less than helpful advice.

"It could have been worse with her. I'm more irritated at the teenager."

"Hrm?"

"There's a girl named Taylor."

"American?"

"Close enough. Anyways, I'm trying to toughen her up but she's just not taking to it. I'm not hurting her or anything. I gave her a hand when she was down and asked for her allegiance in exchange. I was sudden but I was completely honest, or at least I tried to be. I solved some of her biggest problems and handed her a new life on a silver platter with the simple order that she avoid a few groups of people and improve herself, which she was already going to do."

"What did you help her with?" Akame didn't seem super interested in what I was saying but she was at least listening, slowing down as she donned her equipment.

"She was shoved into a locker filled with toxic waste after a year-long bullying campaign, of the type where the mindless cruelty of children is laughed at. She was a social outcast and tormented every day, basically. I took her out of that locker, gave her the power I'm going to use for my… 'divine champions', she's sort of a prototype for it to me, and I gave her the evidence needed to get her revenge on her assaulters legally."

"Toxic waste? Wouldn't that be murder? At least assault? That seems beyond the typical tormenting of children." She was interested now, her eyes sharpened. Perhaps she had a soft spot for children.

"She would probably have died if she was in there for more than twelve or so hours, which was entirely possible. There's a biokinetic in her city that might have healed her but… well, it's moot. She would have been badly injured or worse. I saved her from that and just today she asked me for help, which I provided. The problem is that I killed a slaver and a terrorist in the process and she was furious at me, wanting to take them in. Her world isn't as bad as yours, but imagine a teigu wielder who pursued criminal activities unsanctioned by the government. Why wouldn't you kill them? I don't get it but that's not the problem."

"It's that she isn't grateful for your help."

"Exactly!" I agreed. "I don't want her to kneel down and praise my name but shouldn't she at least say thank you? She had the power to deal with her problems but she wasn't able to. I dealt with her problem mercifully, even leaving the murderous terrorist alive for her, albeit limbless and pinned to a wall. I just don't get why she's so bitter towards me more than anything. I don't even know where to start fixing the problem."

Akame seemed thoughtful as she clicked Murasame to a belt at her side. "… Kids shouldn't be fighting. They're emotional and see things how they want to see them. Maybe you should try breaking how she sees things?" She shrugged. "That might work."

"Maybe…" I muttered, thinking over her words. She looked at a silver and ivory ring on her finger and pushed some aura into it. There was a small pop of displaced air as the runes on the ring activated, teleporting her away to the cultist compound.

Taylor didn't see me as human, I decided. I was distant, some cosmic demon she owed her soul to who tended to order her around. I had given her gifts, but to her credit, they were necessary to actually do what I asked. I doubted that she saw them as my powers that she was borrowing, more her powers that she was given. Of course that would make a more hostile view towards me.

So what could I do to make her see me in a less horrible light? Hmm…

Well, she sucks at using aura apparently. I'm not going to teach her the basics, I was well beyond that, but I know somebody who sucks with it as much as she does. Brockton Bay was sure to be a lot livelier soon.

But for that to work… hm, I would need to speed up my plans. Oh well. I was going a bit slowly anyways. Now how did I want to approach Cauldron?


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: This is a pretty long series of interludes, though there's only three of them. I think I got a lot done in them and gave a lot of perspective on characters other than Abyss, namely Taylor, Remnant's current happenings, some details on the cult, and how most people perceive Abyss. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this. Next chapter is some DxD stuff and I think I wrote it really well. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 17**= ||||]

[|| =**!BONUS LEVEL!**= ||]

**The Faustian**

"_I have decided that I have made a mistake,"_ it said out of the blue. Taylor stiffened and was silent, her hands freezing. Her heart raced and she felt a panic setting in. It was in her room… It was in. Her. Room. Just yesterday she had been helpless to watch as it… _slaughtered_ Lung with her body. She could feel it's oppressive mind, an alien thing vaster than hers could ever be, rip control of her body through the back of her head. That tether chaining her to it. _"You think I am some sort of monster, don't you?"_She hesitated, which apparently said enough for it to know how afraid she was of it.

"_I am sending you one of my most ardent followers. I've told her not to preach to you but, well… you'll see. She is poor with her aura just as you are but she is deadly in nearly any other aspect of combat. She will be your tutor and friend if you will allow it. Hopefully this will incentivise you to find me a foothold on Earth Bet quicker." _

There was a sound behind her, something between a crunch and a thump. She froze for just a moment before her mind screamed 'MOVE' and she leaped away. Ice collected in her hand to make a crappy dagger, more of an icicle really, and she crouched down like Vicky had taught her to fight the intruder.

She was tall, taller than most humans at least. Purple eyes, seemingly shining with some unearthly light, stared out of a clearly professional helmet, most of the other features shadowed by the poor light of the room and the helmet itself. Everything below that was a dark modern armour with pale metal plates attached to vital organs. It was simple but clearly effective with how much of the warrior's body it covered. But most intimidating was the axe hanging at her side, its head made of bone for some reason, paired with a wicked looking black dagger on the other side of her waist. She looked like some sort of knight, modernized and ready for war.

Her hands came up to her helmet and she pulled it off before whipping her head, freeing a long intricate golden braid of hair and exquisite features on tanned skin. Taylor was dumbstruck at her intruder's… everything.

"What is up my fellow champion of Abyss?!" Irisai grinned toothily and raised a gloved hand for a high five.

Taylor stared, her mouth a little agape. She closed it and forced herself to put the 'dagger' away, the ice hissing as she sped up its evaporation. Her heart felt like it was in her throat and her mind was a mess. Hadn't she been folding her clothes a minute ago?

"Okay… no high five then!" The warrior's hand lowered and her smile turned down a little. "So I'm Irisai! And you're Taylor, right?" She didn't answer, her mind a mess. Seconds ticked by as she gathered some composure

"… Taylor Hebert," she said to the stranger. A surge of insecurity went through her as the woman smiled, making her feel like the sun had shined for the first time in years. It was like Vicky's aura turned up to the maximum with a nice hug.

She hated it.

"There you go! He said you might be a bit antisocial but I knew you had it in you!" The intruder, Irisai, walked over to her bed next to the folded laundry and sat down gently. Still, the wood groaned under the woman and her plate armour. How much did that armour weigh? How strong was she to effortlessly walk around in it? "Sooo, I don't really have a place to stay right now besides yours. But since we serve the same god it appears accepta-sorry, it's cool, right? I'm still learning modern slang from Elsyria but uh, I'm kinda old fashioned. I still slip back sometimes when I'm nervous." That confident, sunny grin grew sheepish but Taylor had no doubts that she was anything but confident in herself. Nervous her ass.

"So, anything you wanna ask about? I mean, you must have some questions given that I was just sorta dropped on you. I can provide for myself if you want, pay rent and stuff. I have some weapons and stuff in a pocket dimension of mine so I don't need much. And have you even told your dad about Abyss yet? It might shock him a bit if I just waltzed up to him and said that I was your new roommate."

"He knows a little. I haven't shared any details," she said quietly. The idea of coming clean to her father scared her. She had said that she had a 'friend' who had helped her a little, explaining the camera she had found in her bag and the footage of Sophia shoving her into the locker. He might have thought that it was Vicky or Amy as it was.

"Now's as good a time as any to pull back the curtain, don't you think?" That sunny smile came back, screaming honest eagerness this time. "I mean, what dad wouldn't be proud? You got chosen by a god! I had to sell two priceless artifacts to a demon to get to him and then cross a whole world! Lucky you, huh?" Taylor felt that panic rising. This… this lady was going to just tell her father her biggest secret? Before she could protest the warrior stood and stepped across her room in two short strides. Taylor felt herself walking alongside her as she chatted on.

"I know I would have made my parents proud if I were chosen by a god! I'm technically a sort of demigod but let's not talk about that, huh? Bad memories there. I'm just saying, you're not alone now. Abyss is always keeping an eye on all his worshippers! He tries really hard not to let anybody die. Honestly I think he's a bit too generous with it but you can't fault kindness if it doesn't hurt anybody."

"Wh-Taylor? Whose-..." her father stopped mid sentence to stare at Irisai, who grinned and walked up to him, a hand outstretched. His own hand met it seemingly without him thinking and he looked between his shaking hand and the beautiful lady with a fixed smile on his face.

"Hello, s- um, Danny right? My name's Irisai! I've been given the position as your daughter's, ah… protector would be the best word for it. Guardian gives the wrong impression. Abyss sent me and boy do we have a lot to talk about! Do you mind if I make some tea?"

It was just then that Taylor noticed that Irisai had pointed ears.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"And what do you do to make your hair so glossy?! It's so shimmery!" Glory Girl, or Vicky to anybody who knew her personally, blushed at Irisai's praise. After a brief rocky start because of Irisai's ears the two had hit it off. It was horrible. The park they were sitting in was mostly empty but it was still public, making her embarrassed to even be outside with her tagalong. Or maybe she was the tagalong and Irisai was the person dragging her around.

"Oh, SO much work! I spend like half an hour every day washing and conditioning! But I wouldn't even be able to get that if Ames didn't help me out!"

"She hogs the shower," Panacea, or Amy, muttered, her hands still on the high elf's. Her eyes alternated between a strange mix of focused and unfocused as she switched between writing on a notepad and looking at Irisai's biology. The two had finally banded together to drag Taylor out of her house after two days of silence and avoiding school. Irisai refused to let her go anywhere alone but she was too angry, and later mortified, to bring the crazy elf anywhere. She should have registered with the PRT, but with her task to kill Coil hanging over her head…

"Hey!" A brief laugh from Irisai swept the indignation off Vick's face and set a soft smile on Amy's. It was like the nicest windchimes Taylor had ever heard had decided to make a chorus when she laughed.

She had a body slim, athletic, and busty enough for any woman to murder for ten times over, a voice to make honey diabetic, and looks so beautiful and exotic that just walking down the street gathered more attention than even Vicky, who was a supermodel on her own. Maybe if she didn't dress in a tight tank top and leggings she might be a little less eye catching? All of her good traits were completely balanced out by her utterly… _wacky_ personality, at least. Not that anybody else at the table knew how alien she could be.

"And what do you do? Do you just look like that normally?" Vicky asked curiously, her smile bright. She leaned closer to Irisai eagerly.

"Oh, no! I mean, I look pretty great normally but I have to eat really well and work out a lot."

"And?"

"Um…" Irisai managed to look embarrassed, a faint blush appearing on her nearly golden skin. "Good genes?" Taylor eyed the pointed ears hidden under Irisai's hair. She wasn't sure about the whole 'elf' thing but the pointed ears were fairly telling. It also wasn't like the world was strange enough as it was.

"I'll say," Amy muttered again, rolling her eyes good naturedly.

"Psh! Great genes, more like! Come on, spill the deets!" Vicky leaned forth eagerly, like she was going to learn a secret.

"Most of it is exercise. Lots of exercise. That and my aura, um, power."

"Power? Ooh! Right! Some sort of supermodel power?" Vicky asked again, distracted by the much more interesting topic.

"Mostly I'm a, ahh, what do you all call it here? Brute?" Vicky's eyes gleamed, smelling opportunity. "I can do some other stuff, though. A lot of tiny powers compared to you guys. I think they're stranger powers?"

"Oh? Keeping your rockin' bod hidden? How could you?!" Vicky teased. "But, like, how brutey are you? I, for one, am the brutiest of brutes! Well, not really, but in Brockton Bay I am!" She puffed out her chest with pride. Irisai smiled, perhaps a little condescendingly, though Vicky clearly couldn't see it.

"I don't like to brag," Irisai said humbly. Vicky leaned closer and Amy looked up from her inspection of the elf's biology. "But I can put a crack in a boulder. Not that I would do so without some protection for my knuckles."

"What's that, like three cars worth of force?" Vicky wondered. Amy shrugged. Vicky's eyes lit up. "Only one way to find out! What do you say, Iri? Up for a spar?" She flew up off the seat and twirled around in the air gracefully.

"Iri?" Irisai asked in surprise.

"Blegh! Your name's a mouthful! Come on! I won't hurt you and if I do Ames can heal you right up!"

"Shouldn't you go somewhere less public?" Taylor piped up from her silence, looking around the park.

"Uh, good point." She still sounded disappointed.

"Actually, I can drive us," Irisai offered.

"You have a car?! Really?!" Vicky gasped. Taylor sunk down onto the park bench, the lack of a backrest not hindering her. Amy noticed her action and looked between her and Irisai, who was standing up.

"Heck yeah! The first thing I did when I… well, I learned to drive pretty quickly. I wanted to get a motorcycle at first but I got a really nice gift from a friend of mine. My fiancee, though he hasn't agreed yet, brought it here for me and helped get it registered."

No he hadn't. He put some sort of master effect on the license plate and the elf's drivers license. They looked official and in date no matter how you looked at them. If you even wondered how a demon worshipping elf got a license, she just showed them her card and they suddenly thought that it was perfectly reasonable for her to drive. It wasn't legit. It was abuse of powers.

Taylor forced herself from the seat to follow, Irisai and Vicky chatting animatedly as they walked. Amy hurried after and walked alongside her.

"Where'd she come from? Vicky might be hypnotised but I noticed how she dodged the question\," she asked quietly.

"She's mastered?!" Taylor hissed in alarm.

"What? No, it was just an expression," she clarified.

"Oh. I… it's a long story. Can we talk about this later?" Amy looked between her and Irisai before nodding shortly and walking alongside her.

"Oh. My. GOD!" Vicky squealed and flew as fast as she could towards the shining convertible sports car next to her dad's old truck. The sleek maroon glaze on it had no place in the poorer parts of town she lived in. Irisai ran after Vicky, her casual stride more like Taylor's breakneck sprint. "Is this a fucking Ferrari?!" she screamed in joy.

"Mustang!" Irisai said, delighted that Vicky had such an interest in her car. Taylor had seen it before.

"YEEEESSSS! Can I take a picture?!"

"Duh! I know my girl's beautiful! Almost as good as Shadowmare but uh… nevermind." Taylor remembered how Irisai had ranted for nearly half an hour about the vicious horse and decided to not comment on the latter part of the sentence, which only she seemed to have heard.

[|||| =-= ||||]

It was decided, after a minute of arguing where to go for the spar, that they were visiting the Dallons residence. It took about twenty minutes by bus, being in the nicer part of town, and was about a fifteen minute car ride. It was a sunny Saturday so the roof of Irisai's car was down. Vicky and Irisai continued bantering while Taylor and Amy, who might be her best friend, she realized, quietly talked in the back.

She had learned that Irisai had six more organs than a human, three missing including her tonsils and liver, some of her organs were rearranged or altered, and each and every one of them were working better than they realistically should, which led to a discussion about aura, another subject Taylor promised to talk more about later. Not that she knew much about aura either.

And then they were staring at Irisai as she put on her armour.

"Ho. Ly. Shit." Amy gawked as the warrior stepped out of the bathroom.

"That's, uh, not really a heroic costume, Iri." Vicky winced. "And heroes don't use weapons that often. Except tinkers."

"I may have a forcefield but that's no excuse to be sloppy. It's not infinite and direct blows still leave bruises," she reasoned. Taylor could see the logic in that, but it didn't explain why she looked so intimidating. Couldn't she paint it white or something? It would go a long way in easing people who saw her. "Besides, I told you, I do a lot of sneaking around. I can't pick pockets if I'm all glowy or whatever."

"… Good point," Vicky ceded. Then she smiled and the world seemed a little brighter, the issue swept aside for now. "So you up to get creamed?"

"They'll write songs about your defeat." She grinned back. Vicky laughed confidently and flew outside. With Miss Dallon out running errands she could fly around without being scolded.

Taylor and Amy strolled outside after Irisai into the backyard, the woman checking a blunted metal axe for faults. Taylor wondered why the two sisters hadn't asked where she got her armour or weapon. Maybe they were too distracted?

The two fighters went to different sides of the large lawn while the others sat down on some lawn chairs next to the house. "Ready?" Vicky asked. Irisai nodded and took a stance. "Go!"

Vicky darted forwards, a haymaker ready. Her aura was at full blast and Taylor shivered at the fear that crept into her. At her distance and with Vicky not focused on her it only took a bit of concentration to ignore the emotion. The elf stepped aside and jabbed the axe into her belly, the aura seemingly having no effect at all. The heroine grunted and backed off, a spinning kick pushing Irisai back a little. She looked a little disappointed for some reason.

It didn't take long for Vicky to charge again, though she landed and sidestepped this time before jabbing at Irisai's shoulder. The warrior batted aside the blow with ease, a golden-orange glow faintly encasing her gauntlet. Her axe, meanwhile, quickly swung at the girl. She stepped back only for Irisai to press her, a wider swing nicking her shoulder, sending her into a spin as she flew into the air again.

"Ugh! You pack a punch!" she said, seemingly impressed and a little sore. "But I pack more!" She flew over and spun, trying to catch Irisai's back with another straight. Irisai knelt and grabbed Vicky's fist and threw her overhead only for her to fly upwards, pulling away. The elf swung again, her axe a blur, and Taylor heard the sound of the axe's head crunching a little as it met her arm's forcefield.

Another blow swiftly followed in the same place as Vicky tried to pull away faster, only for the axe to crunch as her arm broke. A scream followed.

"Vicky!" Amy yelled. She ran towards her sister, who Irisai immediately let go of so she could float to the ground.

"Y-y'know, I expected to last a little… okay, a lot longer than that." Vicky's voice, while chipper, was as strained as her grimace. Amy touched her arm and sighed.

"A clean break. Give me a few minutes. It's pretty easy to fix."

"I'm sorry, I thought your forcefield would protect you. I wouldn't have struck so hard if I knew you would break a bone." Irisai sounded a bit guilty but more embarrassed.

"It's cool. It happens in spars between brutes," Vicky replied, the pain leaving her voice.

"Why didn't it defend you? It did the first time."

"… Don't spread this around, okay? My forcefield can block almost anything but it needs time to charge up after a strong attack. About five or thirty seconds. I think yours would take sevenish."

"Oh." Irisai seemed disappointed.

The party didn't last long after that. Vicky wasn't up to spar anymore after breaking an arm so quickly and the mood was awkward. Taylor ended up being driven home silently alongside Irisai.

"… I'm sorry I hurt your friend," she said suddenly, breaking the silence that had taken over the car for the past ten minutes.

"She was fine with it," Taylor said dismissively. Vicky wasn't one to hold a grudge for an accident.

"I know. I just wanted to leave a good impression. I shouldn't have sparred in the first place, though. There was no point to it anyways. That girl had no idea how to fight."

"She's a professional hero!" Taylor said, a bit scandalized and defensive of her friend.

"Taylor, I've been fighting for years. I know a fighter when I see one. That was a girl with power. She had terrible reflexes, letting her shield take a hit she could have evaded, and she didn't even probe my defenses," she said in exasperation.

"Well how would you have done it?"

"Firstly, I wouldn't fight a superior opponent on fair ground," she pointed out. "But if I were Glory Girl I'd have brought a gun and stayed in the air until my aura was exhausted. When I'd have found out about my ranged attacks I'd have gotten close and then immediately ran away once I saw that I was clearly the inferior fighter."

"You'd have just… run away?"

"Of course," she nodded, as though it was obvious. "I ran away from plenty of fights before I met Abyss only to return stronger later or with a friend. Sometimes multiple friends."

"That seems…"

"Dishonorable?" She was amused. "I'm an assassin, Taylor."

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Did you think I was a warrior?"

"Yes!"

"I am, but only so far as I have to be. People don't expect a valiant knight to stab somebody in the back, and the armour I have on is silent when I want it to be. I'm conditioned to it, I suppose." Taylor was silent, the logic her guardian had shown sound. Nobody expected the valiant knight to be dishonorable. It was like expecting an honest politician. The images just didn't fit.

"… Why would you become an assassin?" she wondered.

"Well, I wasn't able to fight fairly. Would you like to know why?" Taylor hesitated but nodded, her curiosity fueling her to finally talk to the elf. "Well it all started when I was sent to the executioner's block. This was in a place called Skyrim, by the way. I had one hell of an adventure for a few years. Then I met Abyss. But let's stick to the beginning, shall we? So there I was, the executioner's axe raised…"

Taylor ended up talking with her newfound friend for an hour and a half, the wall she had built between them simply for being associated with the demon broken down by familiarity.

Just as Irisai's god had expected.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**The Scientist**

So maybe everyone warned him he'd create a Frankenstein but it really wasn't his fault. Honestly! He created life in his wonderful daughter Penny, getting all his desire to scream 'It's aliiiivvee' out. That turned out great! Penny really was an angel, helping him around the lab and simulating complex quantum computations on how magic interfaces with reality, which he was still cracking at. He couldn't ask for a better daughter.

Then he'd made the kataigida, wherever they were now if they were even alive, the glorious magical dinosaur bears, but that had been on Abyss' orders. It wasn't his fault but that hardly mattered. They were like bears, not hurting anyone unless they poked at them with a stick. Sure, whichever government found them first would do just that but if they were smart for once they wouldn't have a new problem, would they? So again, no harm no foul.

But now? He miiiiight have messed up. A teeny bit. A tiny bit, leading to the current situation. Or at least, it wasn't entirely his fault. He just didn't know what he was dealing with. He felt confident with his backer supporting him. And then said backer had disappeared off into the sunset.

"Sir, it's grown four percent since yesterday," his junior reported worriedly. He nodded in affirmative.

"So it's confirmed? It's exponential?"

"Very, very slowly exponential, sir," he affirmed. "Within a month it will have consumed half the lab floor or three quarters depending on how long the safety doors hold for. In two months to two and a half the lab as a whole will be consumed and the growths will reach the surface. In six months a third of Vale will be consumed, though this-"

"Yes, I know it may be carnivorous or photoynthetic, Oak," Poledina snapped. The young man's flinch instantly made him feel bad. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just… a little stressed out."

"We all are, sir. I understand. Mister Mahogany has allocated a grant to seal the lab if need be. He's demanding a solution before the growth reaches the surface."

"Of effing course he is," Poledina groused, already expecting that idiot to shove the problem onto him. "A temporary solution and pray it all works out, huh? What a-"

"Miss Branwen has declined to return to help once more. She supports his decision. This time she blocked our number"

"Damnit, woman!" he shouted angrily, slapping his hand on his desk. A few papers flew off but he had bigger problems. It wasn't like his office wasn't a mess anyways. That maiden, she always disliked the lab. The kataigida weren't useful, she'd say, minor enhancements to runes were just that, minor, and the few things worthwhile to her weren't actually helpful to her personally so, once again, she didn't care! She showed up once to throw some magic at the growth and then she just gave up! Four measly hours of effort only trying what she knew she could do, never looking for a new solution… the meatheaded brute.

He had considered reaching out to Miss Rose, such a bright young girl, but he didn't want her to worry over something that the adults couldn't fix. She was clearly dealing with depression as well and piling the stress of an unstoppable cancer to that was a horrible idea. He hadn't realized quite what a rock Abyss had been for her until he was gone and she was without a leg to stand on.

And oh Abyss! When he was around things had been golden. Magic! Funding! And he was even a good boss, providing material for study at every turn! Truly he had created a perfect storm for scientific advancement. The boy, or man rather with all he had done, was a true patron of the sciences with a passion for magic of all types. For him to suddenly disappear… it was horrible not just to him but the world as a whole. He was, as a man of science, not much for prayer, but he prayed to whatever was listening that the young man wasn't dead. He had one of his precious few friends in him.

"… How is project reel?" he asked.

"No progress made. Again," the assistant said depressingly. Poledina nodded, already expecting it. Using runes to try to simulate dimensional travel with Abyss' aura as a catalyst wasn't hopeless, but they didn't have much of his aura stored, it just seemed like he'd be around forever to supply it as needed, but they had to at least try to reach out to him in the hope that he was whisked away from Remnant. No such luck, he supposed.

"… Look, Oak, I'm open to suggestions. I sure as hell could use some."

"I have no idea what to do, sir," Oak admitted. He lowered his scroll, showing the shadows under his eyes more clearly. "The lab is fucked, the growth seems unstoppable and immovable, we don't even understand why it's out of control, and we're missing the powerhouse behind our funding. We're lucky that Mahogany was generous enough to give us a grant. Vacuo is always sunny and Atlas wouldn't mind you back. People are going to connect miracle plants and a lab quickly and it won't look good for the company when Vale is destroyed. We've had a good run but it's looking like this is a sinking ship. Maybe it's time to run for the lifeboats?"

"Just give up? I've put years of my life into this venture, completely changed my field of study even, and now I just walk away?"

"Sunk cost fallacy."

"Cold, Oak. Cold." The man shrugged, too tired and serious to argue. Kids should really be more jovial. He'd been full of fire and hot air as a young buck. Why couldn't kids be passionate and starry-eyed anymore?

"We could try to keep the company going. We have a sizable amount of goodwill in Menagerie and it's going to take years, maybe even a decade, before the growth crosses the ocean. Assuming it doesn't eat material sustenance, of course."

"You know, I should have realized that dragons and a seemingly infinite energy source wouldn't go well together," Poledina brooded. "But we have at least one more option. Maybe two. If the maiden won't help us, that is. And we aren't dragging Ruby into this."

"We're all in agreement that Ruby shouldn't be sucked into our problems. But what do you mean? We're the only magical researchers around."

"Well… we aren't the only magical practitioners around." Oak looked alarmed.

"We're under orders not to make contact with the wizard under-"

"What?! No! Look, I think Abyss is being a bit of a shit to the wizard but I get where he's coming from! No, no. There's another practitioner."

"… Atlas?"

"Get out of here, Oak. I need to make a call." The young man was confused and a little insulted but he could deal with it. Poledina squirmed in his office chair as he readied himself to call one of Abyss' least trustworthy allies. They were just that desperate.

Because deep within the lab a dragon egg was sucking in nature affinity, slowly growing it's roots, tunneling through solid concrete ever so slowly and getting bigger. It could be predicted that it would get larger and larger, eventually draining the planet dry of nature affinity, but nobody even wanted to entertain the thought of what might come out of the egg if it were to hatch.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**The Devotee**

"And praise the gospel of the apostle! For through him we touch upon the beginning and end of all things!"

"Praise!" The masses cried fervently. Their words were just the tiniest bit warped from the lack of affinity in the air, which always caused odd effects. It wasn't very noticeable but the thousand voices were just a bit more discordant than they should be. Elsyria put down her arms from where they were raised in the air and paused to take a breath, her throat familiarly sore from her honeyed words.

"Thank you for attending this sacred gathering. As you all know, today marks the anniversary of the day the apostle found himself in the embrace of the void. If you recall the Book of Black, know of the trials he endured to divinity; the rebirth, the journey, the mother, the citadel, and the emptiness. Today we celebrate the emptiness, whereupon he ascended to divinity and would eventually travel across the gap to grace our world with his presence. Please, spend the day in meditation on the void, the fates you once held, and your connection to our lord. Tomorrow look with fresh eyes at what you have come to possess and the trials you yourself have endured to come to the heights you stand on today. Praise be."

"Praise be," they repeated. The high priestess of the apostle turned then and disappeared when dark purple curtains closed behind her. A murmur struck up as conversations began and the attendants of her sermon began to leave. Some of them, the more devout or patient, stayed behind and bowed their heads in reflection, waiting for the others to leave.

"Water," Elsyria rasped, letting the power fade from her voice. A figure appeared from somewhere dressed in the black cloths and a mask of the Silent, the assassin and information sect of the cult, with a few strips of fabric on their left breast signifying their rank. It was all very edgy but equally as useful for stealth. More importantly, they were holding out a large cup of water. "Thank you, James," she said, making sure to remember the man's name. James nodded and disappeared in an instant.

In the early days of the cult Abyss had been able to grant the ability to manipulate space, including teleportation. Gaining some gifts with ice had been worth it but the style many had been developing it in had caused a lot of problems. She had nagged her god into getting the ability back somewhat since it was just too useful.

He had told her to give him a uniform and, after being provided one, he runed the shit out of it, somehow granting teleportation, some kind of magical mental concealment, and a pocket dimension, and he asked if she wanted more! She had sent him three hundred uniforms a few days later, which became the traditional uniform for the shadows, not that tradition was very stable at the moment. Hell, she had actually added a passage to the Book of Black based off of that deal, giving people more literature to base their faith on. When your sacred book was still being written you knew that you were still a fledgeling religion.

It was so _nice_ to have a god that acted directly. Saying a god loved you was well and good but when they directly gave you magical abilities powerful enough to be a sacred gear _and_ gave you an empathetic link to them? It made divinity so much more tangible, and that brought in the practical sort of people she needed in the cult.

Power was attractive; addictive too. It was how she had grown the cult so quickly, numbering several hundred a few months ago and now more like a thousand five hundred and then some. About a third of those were ready and willing to fight for their god. Each and every one of them seriously worshipped Abyss. The cult could have been a lot bigger if she was more loose with recruitment, but she wanted a strong groundwork to build off of. Twenty thousand people might as well be none if they were all unreliable.

And the people out there, leaving the main church in the cult's headquarters? Each and every one of them were going to go home and do exactly as she said, meditating and reflecting on her words earlier. Some of them might ask Abyss something or other and if they were really, really lucky he might even answer! She had specifically asked him to be extra receptive to prayers during the cult's single holiday. He had agreed to respond to most of the prayers and she had to frantically dissuade him to only answer about a hundred. A god had to be somewhat distant, after all; too much of a good thing and so on.

"… Kika, how much longer do I have until I need to go to the meeting with the Yokai?"

"Two hours," a somewhat lascivious voice said from right behind her. Elsyria didn't bother to turn around and instead took a deep drink from her cup.

"Great," she sighed, licking her lips. Water could taste so good after talking for almost thirty minutes straight. If only she could bring a bottle up onto the podium. That wasn't very professional, though.

"Do you need to take a nap or get some dinner before you meet with them?" Kika asked, walking into her vision. She was a young woman and one of the earliest members of the cult. They had been friends before and when Elsyria needed somebody adept at intelligence work she was the first person she knew of with even a hint of experience. Being second in line to an old mage with a knack for mind magic's family, Kika was experienced enough to lead in the newly founded cult and free enough to do so. Her older sister would have been better were she available for recruitment, but heiresses couldn't just go off and join cults.

Kika was slim and under her uniform, that of the Shade, the leader of the silent sect of the cult, she had muscle building. Not that anything was revealed besides her grey eyes. Akame had unofficially taken her under her wing and was teaching her anything and everything about being an assassin. Leading was all her, though, and she and Akame were working out how to gather information subtly based off of how the assassin's previous employer operated with Kika's mind magic mixed in to make things easier.

"There will be refreshments at the meeting. I need to check on Burmy, see how he's doing without Irisai." Burmy was the manly equivalent of Kika, though he was the third son of a different old mage family and was _really _into swordplay. That was why he was leading the Scourge, the infantry side of the cult's military.

"Cool. I'll find-nevermind, found him." Kika seemed almost disappointed.

"He's in the yard again, isn't he?"

"Uh huh." Elsyria groaned. That meant that Burmy was praying.

"Okay, lets go." She stood up and finished off the water and set the cup aside on a windowsill. Something flickered in her vision as she turned away and she glanced back at the windowsill where there wasn't a cup anymore.

"James I ought to drill you three times for that. The priestess is clearly tired and at rest and she still saw you with all the fancy enchanted gear we have on us. You're a second shadow, man," Kika reprimanded him. There was a moment of silence as the Shade perceived something most people couldn't. "He's sulking," she said. You could hear the eye-roll in her voice.

"You guys are weird," Elsyria snorted, leaving the room. "Is Nadia doing alright?" Nadia was the last leader of a military branch, specifically Downfall, the artillery of the cult. She was also one of only two fallen angels in the whole cult despite their size. The fallen, after being abandoned by the biblical god, weren't all that interested in religion.

"Yeah, they're the most well trained out of all of us right now," Kika said, suddenly next to her somehow. The priestess didn't bother to look at her. She knew she wouldn't see anything.

"Neither Irisai nor Akame know much about magic."

"Well, not real magic. Irisai's powerful but primitive. I still can't believe her people manage to cast magic all the time and not use a spell circle."

"Aren't they just making portals to that Aetherius place?" Elsyria wondered.

"The denizens of Tamriel send mana through some sort of innate connection to this Aetherius plane and out comes an effect. It reminds me a little of blood binding magic except everyone has a binding to a whole plane instead of one or two people to a family treasure. It's weird that her magic works at all, actually."

"But it's not useful to us."

"Oh, not in the slightest." Kika chuckled. The two stopped their conversation when they heard chanting and the sound of a whetstone against steel as they neared the yard.

"-for I shall cut down a thousand enemies in his name *Shing* and a thousand more in the honor of his consorts. *shing* May the edge prove my faith, *shing* the spine my resolution, *shing* the hilt my commitment, *shing* and the blood my accomplishments in these deeds I commit unto you. I-"

"Burmy," Elsyria interrupted him. It wasn't very polite to interrupt somebody praying but Burmy could go on for over ten minutes just talking about his swords or making comparisons between swords and something else.

"High priestess," he greeted with a polite smile, not seeming angry at all that he had been interrupted. He was in the more casual robes the cultists usually wore around headquarters or the few sanctuaries they had. They weren't very different from normal magician's robes, having a few purple accents and a spot for the cloth patterns used to determine rank if the cultist was formally military. He was a very average looking man, brown eyes and hair with a slightly large nose. Everything else was under the robes. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to know if you need any help with Irisai occupied." Elsyria cut to the chase.

"No thanks. Her being gone is going to slow down my own training but I could use some time to practice alone, reinforcing what she's taught me, though I do miss the sound of her steel hissing through the air." He smiled a little dreamily. It didn't fool anyone. Burmy didn't care all that much for Irisai. He probably missed her swords more than the elf herself.

"And the men?"

"Oh, they'll be alright. We're still drilling the basics for the most part and I can do that myself. It's a good time to work on our touki, though." Both the women noticed how his fingers were rubbing at the spine of the broadsword he was sharpening, eager to get back to work.

"If you say so."

"I do. Goodbye, high priestess, and thank you for your concern." Burmy looked back down at the sword and started sharpening again, completely focused on his task. Elsyria walked away from the yard a little faster than she came, a little sick of prayers about swords.

"I still think you could find a better fit for the Scourge." Kika reappeared.

"He's the best swordsman we have by far, Irisai excluded. He's also one of the best with touki and we both know that he can actually lead a disciplined group," she replied.

"That doesn't mean there won't be better fits."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it… now come on. I need a nap." Elsyria yawned to emphasize her point.

"Uh huh. I'm going to go check on my people. See if security's still airtight. I always want to stab something after seeing Burmy and I don't know why. Maybe his love for swords is infectious because I don't really dislike the guy. Anyways, see ya El."

"Bye, Kika." Elsyria arrived back at the room behind the main podium and sat down in a comfortable armchair after locking the door. It wouldn't stop one of the silent but people wouldn't walk in on their high priestess taking a snooze.

'_Heading into the conference soon. Wish me luck,' _she prayed to her god.

Luckily for her he was paying attention and wasn't busy. _'__**I think I made a lot of people very happy tonight,**__' _the voice of her god spoke to her. The sheer power he possessed sometimes made her feel like a child looking up to a parent. She could feel the kaleidoscope of elements that composed him and the void felt sharper than it ever felt for her. _'__**Thank you again for dealing with the yokai. I hope the support they give is worth the more public face.**__' _

There was no need to thank her. The gratefulness he felt for her was like a boulder pressing onto her. She felt more loved than she had ever felt even with her blood family. And she knew that this was just a passing appreciation for her. His soul's vastness, his aura he called it, served to display just how much more he was than any mere mortal, devil, angel, or spirit. He simply felt more than any lesser beings because he was more.

'_It's my pleasure! It's always a pleasure!'_ And it truly was. She wasn't a true believer at first, she was ashamed to admit, though she had noble intentions. Now she was a true devotee. She would die for her god if he only asked. She knew, somewhere deep in her soul, that she would join him in depth, contribute to the greatness of his soul.

'_**Good to know. Oh, wait, are you tired? Here.**__' _Her god suddenly blessed her. A small shard of his power, more than all of hers cumulatively, descended unto her and worked its miracles through her soul. She gasped as she felt instant clarity. Her mind, dulled with fatigue, was sharpened to the point that the world appeared in a completely different light. She felt awake for the first time in her life. _'__**I've tried using mind affinity as a stimulant to stave off tiredness for myself recently. Fatigue is entirely mental for me, after all. I don't need to sleep in mind or body, though I still do most nights, but for you it must be nice to think so clearly. Remember to sleep a lot soon. I don't think the long term effects of this are pleasant. Goodbye, Elsyria. Have a nice night.**__'_

She nodded with a grin on her face, her thoughts clearer than crystal, more like polished diamonds. A blessing for her to outwit the yokai and contend with Yasaka's centuries of experience as a leader. Even now her god's generosity astounded her. She felt jealous of Esdeath and Kuroka, being so close to her god, closer than she could ever be. But they were above her head and shoulders, warriors almost without peer and heroes in their own right. She was no hero, no prodigy or saint or outstanding in any real way, but she would serve her god with all she could.

Praise be!


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Spending some time on the homefront this time. Next chapter if all goes to plan we're breaking open another world. If I veer horribly off course, as has been tradition for my entire writing career? Well, trainwrecks are fun with the right attitude! **

**Also, I should note that this chapter has a bit of content that's a bit mature and a little inappropriate but not exactly explicit. I find it more funny than anything but some people might blush a bit. If you've come this far, though, you probably won't care much. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 18**= ||||]

Yesss, my horrible, evil plan of giving Taylor a best friend was progressing nicely. Hopefully Irisai could charm the socks off of her. I actually doubted that the two wouldn't get along. Irisai had a powerful personality and tended to draw people in just by the virtue of being interesting in a good way.

Having my plans enacted left me a lot of free time. Worm was settled for now as Irisai had befriended Taylor and the girl herself was preparing to kill Coil. It was best to let the world stew and have her get her feet on solid ground. So, what to do? The answer was a bit obvious, having been my routine for the past few months.

Embrace the couch, my closest companion.

I lay splayed over the couch like some sort of flung rag. My hands were fiddling with a controller but even then only my fingers and thumbs were making tiny motions, everything else motionless. A game of Xcom 2 was on the screen and I was staring with half lidded eyes, wondering in the back of my mind if I should poke my nose into that world.

It seemed interesting but it also had a firm structure in its major powers. I wouldn't be able to hide the truth of where I came from. I'd have to be very cunning to avoid notice - and probably leave a few bodies or wiped minds along the way - or I'd have to be upfront with my powers and the whole God situation I had found myself in.

For the most part, though, I was just lazing about, the thoughts of manipulation and work a background process to my games.

*Bzzzzzzz* Ah, work, my old nemesis rears its ugly head.

*Bzzzzzzz*... My phone was on the side table. It was just within arms reach, but could my arms handle the strain of actually lifting up?

*Bzzzzzzz* I groaned faintly and turned to the answer to every problem. Magic. Motion affinity threw the phone in an arc onto a waiting hand and I answered it while bringing it up to my right ear.

"Please tell me it's not work," I said exasperatedly. I was in the zone. The lazy zone, that was.

"Uhhh, not really? Not now, anyways." It was Elsyria. I felt relief that whatever was going on I could trust her to accept me pushing it onto her. Unless it was an angry god level threat. Then I would have to move my lazy butt away… Or sic Esdeath on the threat. She had been antsy lately, which meant violently stabby to normal people.

"Then what's up?" I asked. I noticed that my words drawled a little naturally.

"I got an invitation from Yasaka. There's a, uh… ball coming up, or something like it, between the three factions, the yokai, and a few other factions the day after tomorrow. It's not really formal but there will be some dancing and socializing. She wants you to come so she can have legitimacy as she announces the cult as allied to the Yokai."

"... Can I avoid this?" I asked bluntly. Socializing and politicking sounded terrible.

"You signed up to be Yasaka's ally. You have to make _some _allowances. Technically I could go in your stead, but you're widely known. I just have your blessing as approval and-"

"I'll go," I interrupted her, my brain aching from higher thought processes. But I had an ace up my sleeve. "Can I bring a plus one?"

"You're Yasaka's plus one."

"It's invitation only?"

"Sadly. You wanted to bring Esdeath and push all the work onto her?"

"You know me so well," I drawled, even though I was sobbing inside at the upcoming effort. I could probably just walk in with Esdeath but that would be a bit rude. I had made a poor first impression at the three factions meeting almost a year ago. I didn't want to make people think I was an asshole.

Come to think of it, Esdeath in a stabby mood and politics was a bad combination. Maybe Kuroka? She was wanted by the devils, though. That would be a power play against them in a fashion. I didn't want to start something… Work was unavoidable sometimes.

"I'll be there. Where is it?"

"You can meet up at Yasaka's residence. She'll have a hired magician make a two way teleporter between her house and the manor the party is taking place in."

"Fine. And where's her place?"

"Just go to Kyoto and follow the leylines to their intersection. Her palace is built right in the middle of ten of them. You can't miss it. I'll send you her number to meet up." I nodded, not that she could see me do so.

"I'll be there."

[|||| =-= ||||]

I was dressed up a little. I had a dark purple dress shirt and dress pants on, but nothing else. I had the rest of the outfit in my soul space but I never liked suits.

Kyoto was easy to find and the leylines were, while a bit more subtle than the magic I normally dealt with, obvious to follow once you noticed one. They were like magical currents, ways that mana flowed. It was like looking at dust, the dirt kind, seemingly static at first but if you looked closely you could see how it all moved in the same direction as the air flowed. I just wondered what made leylines possible in the first place. Not that it mattered too much to me.

The palace in-between all those ley lines, though? Now THAT was impressive. It was huge, at least three times the size of the White House and right in the middle of Kyoto, not to mention that it was absolutely drenched in magic. Runes and strange barriers covered the traditional Japanese… shrine? Yasaka was a priestess as well as a leader so I assumed that it was a shrine, though it might as well have been a fortress. I decided to call it a palace and leave it at that.

I approached the manor on foot just so I didn't startle anyone or set off the palace's defenses. At an entrance at the side two semicircular wooden doors stood shut guarded by a fox yokai, kitsune I think they're called, absorbed in a playboy magazine. He wore a blue uniform, looking somewhat like a bellboy, though his cap had two holes cut into it for his fox ears to peek out of. I didn't see the point in it and thought he looked a little ridiculous.

"Scuse me," I said in Japanese as I approached the booth. He glanced up and then flailed, throwing the magazine aside with wide eyes. Somehow he got his hands on his lap and plastered a smile onto his face, pearly white teeth (just a little too pointed for a human) shining with fake cheer.

"Hello, Lord, uh, um -Mavros!" he said, his smile growing strained as he momentarily forgot my name.

"Nice to see you working hard." I smirked. He glanced down at the floor out of my sight and I glimpsed an orange tail move and heard something slide across the ground.

"A pleasure to know my work is appreciated, Lord!" He was dying of embarrassment inside. I could tell. "Are you here to meet Yasaka-sama?"

"I'm accompanying her to the meeting later tonight," I said simply. The man nodded.

"There have been rumors that you and Yasaka-sama were associates. I'm glad to know that our faction can depend on somebody as powerful as you, Mavros-senpai!" What… what the hell? The guy was beaming up at me and I felt the most uncomfortable urge to hug him. Completely creeped out by the weird feeling I smiled a little awkwardly back.

"Thank you, er," I observed the man, "Nichi-kun." I hoped I got the honorific right - kun was used for juniors, right? - and the man looked like I had touched his heart. "I'm truly sorry to move on but could you please open the gate? I don't want to keep Yasaka waiting." They man - no, the _boy's_ eyes widened in awe.

"I didn't know you and Yasaka-sama were so close," he whispered. Shit! I hadn't used an honorific that time! "It's truly an honor to be the kouhai of somebody so esteemed!" He stood up from his chair, pushing it back a little, and bowed to me. I looked over his aura and did a mostly non-invasive look with my mind affinity. The boy was completely genuine in this thanks. He wasn't trying to flatter me at all. He was just that… innocent.

"You honor me. Thank you, Nichi-kun," I said patiently. He looked up and smiled at me before pushing a button in the booth. The doors opened and I smiled kindly once more before entering and my smile dropped as I felt confused by whatever I had just done.

Maybe that kid was just that weirdly honest and nice by default. I'd only ever seen that kind of innocence in Ruby…

I pushed that thought away before I started brooding again and went to the side to get out of the way, though there wasn't anybody around as far as I could tell. I leaned against the wall I had just crossed and brought out my phone to text Yasaka.

'_I'm at your place. Should I meet you in the tower or…?'_

She didn't reply immediately so I started up one of the mobile games I had while waiting for a reply.

'_Sorry! I got distracted bathing. I'll be ready in ten. I'm in the big building.'_ Attached was a picture of her almost naked, a towel barely covering her chest looking sheepishly but still sexily at the phone she was holding. I was a bit interested in the picture but I was more interested in how her tails were frozen swaying behind her. Apparently they needed blow drying and had gotten all poofy. Oh, and she might have been hitting on me, but that was something to think about later. Much later.

'_Nice tails,'_ I sent her. I chuckled when she sent twenty different emojis in distress and frustration. Flirtations dodged. Good job, me.

I made my way to the largest tower and waved at a group of female kitsune who were sitting near a small pond, several of them dipping their feet in the clear water. They were giggling among themselves when I arrived and I was sure that they were going to gossip about me as I left.

I met two more kitsune, male again, guarding the doors to the main building. They stood a little straighter when they saw me and opened the doors in sync. I nodded to the two of them and one of them puffed out his chest a bit. They closed with a mighty boom behind me.

The hall I was in was large and square, lit only by incense and a few candles, and smelled strongly of both, too strongly for me really. It was clearly a shrine judging by the golden statue of Ameratsu in the middle of it, the lady looked statuesque with ebony hair in a bun behind her, looking kindly yet imperiously down upon the whole hall.

Right in front of it was a young girl sitting seiza style in miko robes staring at me. Nine golden fox tails waved behind her slowly, looking regal despite her age.

"Welcome to our abode, Mavros-sama. I am Kunou, daughter of Yasaka. It is a pleasure to have you." She stood in some sort of stilted shoes, something traditionally Japanese I was pretty sure, and bowed shortly before standing formally with her hands in front of her. "Please, follow me." She turned and walked off to the side, where two curtains draped to the floor, blending in well with the dark walls. I followed but already felt underdressed and I hadn't even made it to the party yet.

"Yasaka never mentioned that she had a daughter." I tried to strike up a conversation while Kunou and I climbed staircases, each of the levels being similar shrines to various shinto gods and goddesses.

"I'm not of age to take on responsibilities yet. I'm still being schooled," she stated formally. I almost sighed, feeling not only underdressed now but also outclassed… by a damned elementary schooler. I checked with observe to make sure that kitsune didn't age slower than humans and saw that she was nine years old. It was another blow to my ego.

"You don't seem happy about that," I picked up by reading her aura. Kunou's lips tightened.

"I feel that as the heiress to the high priestess of Ameratsu I should be allowed to represent my mother at times. She disagrees with me."

"You're about nine years old, right? When I was nine I was taking care of my sister and learning, not taking positions as a state official. It's admirable that you're so dedicated to helping your mother but she isn't going anywhere and neither is the position of high priestess."

"But I'm ready now!" she protested before immediately blushing and hiding her face under a long sleeve with a polite cough. "My apologies. My tongue got the best of me." I cracked a smile knowing that she was still a kid. Also, my ego had recovered a bit at her breaking formalities.

"It happens to the best of us," I replied. Then the many staircases we had climbed stopped with a wooden door at the top of the flight. Kunou fished out a key from her waist and unlocked the door before opening it and standing aside, gesturing for me to come inside.

The home was surprisingly humble, but it showed wealth too. It was fancy, having a leather couch and a table that was clearly a Japanese antique, but it also had a kotatsu, a plasma TV, and a scattering of DVDs under the TV.

"… Gravity Falls? They have a box edition?" I asked, looking at the DVDs.

"I don't - wait, you…" Kunou trailed off, diverting from her formal tone in confusion.

"I liked the mysteries but, personally, Pacifica was my favorite character. I wish they had developed her more. It's a shame that they're not making a season two but it's good that they didn't drag it out. Too many good shows have been messed up by a second season ruining all the work people did before them."

"… Grunkle Stan's my favorite," she mumbled with a faint blush. I smiled and internally cheered at breaking through Kunou's shell.

"You like movies too?" She nodded. I waved my hand through the air with a cheesy grin. Unrealistically large snowflakes drifted through the air, glowing faintly with magic. "Do you wanna build a snowman~?"

I received a tiny fireball to the face, not even enough to hurt a normal person much less me. I laughed and waved it off.

"I never even saw that movie!"

When Yasaka came out to find us we were sorting through the DVDs Kunou had and chatting about what we had watched, a snowman with a fist-shaped hole through it's face next to the stack. She watched a lot of Disney but hated princess movies, citing how all the princesses tended to act girly and always had a happy ending. She preferred the shows about 'normal' people like Zack and Cody or Hannah Montana back when those were still running. I, on the other hand, liked cartoons, of which she had only cherry picked the best ones to watch.

She somehow didn't know what Courage the Cowardly Dog was, the uncultured vixen. I had just mentioned Chowder and she told me that she didn't know that either when Yasaka walked in, a sleeveless kimono on her once more like the one she had met me in, though this one had a black and orange color pattern instead of just orange, the two colors spiraling down her long sleeves.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to take so long, I just… " she trailed off as she noticed that neither Kunou or myself were paying attention.

"-But creeeepy stuff happens in Nowhere! It's up to Courage to save them all!"

"Stupid dog! You made me look bad!" Kunou giggled as the intro to the show ended on my phone.

"It looks kinda freaky," she said, smiling. "And what's with the hole in his teeth?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Most of the show is just watching Courage freak out over whatever abomination he has to fight in the episode."

"Can we see the Chowder intro?" I looked behind us at Yasaka, who was blushing for some reason.

"Well your mother's here so I think I have to go now." Her eyes widened.

"Oh, nononono! We've got a minute!" Kunou looked between my phone and her mother hesitantly.

"No, you don't want to be late to the ball. You should go," she decided for us. Yasaka pouted and I pocketed my phone, turning it on silent for the ball.

"Well it's been a pleasure to meet you, Kunou-hime," I said to her, putting my hand down for her to shake. She smiled and looked up at me happily, her tails waving like a happy puppy's.

"It's been an honor, Mavros-sama," she said solemnly, a grave look on her face. Her tails' movement ruined the facade but she didn't realize it or didn't acknowledge it. I certainly wasn't going to correct her on that. Despite still being underdressed I felt a lot better about meeting Kunou now.

I winced as a thump and yelp alerted us. I looked to see Yasaka holding a tail and looking at one of the walls, the blush larger on her face. "Nothing. Sorry," she said to us. "Haven't done that in years," I heard her mutter under her breath. I waved to Kunou and she waved back as Yasaka and I walked away through a different door. We entered a brightly lit room with a few runes along the walls and a crystal standing upwards in the center of the room.

"So, you never told me that you were good with kids," she said conversationally.

"I don't think I am. I just treated her like I used to treat my sister. All I had to do was humor her maturity and treat her a bit seriously. Too many people think kids are stupid for some reason. I never got it."

"Kunou's very smart. I just wish she didn't want to grow up so fast." Yasaka gave a wistful sigh at that.

"She talked about being a government official of some sort, taking on a position as a priestess I think. Is that what you're talking about?" Yasaka was about to answer when the crystal in the room glowed red. She tapped it and a demonic magic circle appeared around us. Our surroundings warped and the room changed to one with a brick wall and a hooded man standing against the wall. He bowed his head and Yasaka gave him no notice as she left so I followed her.

"She wants to be a priestess just like me." She laughed lightly. "But people wouldn't listen to her. She's just too young. So I keep denying her and feel terrible each time and she keeps pushing."

"A position would be bad for her," I agreed. "But what about giving her responsibility?" I looked around as we walked down a fancy corridor. A mural with devils, angels, and fallen angels fighting decorated the wall we were facing while rooms took the other wall. The two of us were walking towards the end of the hall where a door stood waiting.

"Hm? Like what?"

"Kunou wants something to take care of and feel like she's helping out. Being a kid of course she's not going to want to clean the house or something,so why not get a pet? It would distract her, make her feel like she's doing something, and… let me guess, she's an only child?"

"Yes, and she doesn't have too many friends either. It worries me sometimes." Yasaka sure _sounded_ concerned, conveying it as much through her voice as her words seemingly without trying. It was a sort of charisma I had never seen before. I could never put so many thoughts into a tone like she was. She opened the door and stepped into a garden filled with people holding drinks chatting. They glanced at us and gazes immediately locked onto me, though the conversation kept a steady rhythm. I still felt like the center of attention.

"She could be lonely. A lot of only children are like that. I noticed that your home was a bit quiet and you must be busy a lot of the time. Kunou just seemed happy to have somebody to talk to, at least I got that impression."

"I've… never really noticed. I always got distracted from her asking me about responsibilities that I guess…" She looked a bit troubled and I was about to reassure her when we were interrupted.

"Yasaka-san!" A cheerful voice came not far from us and I saw Sirzechs 'Fucking' Lucifer walking calmly towards us, a beaming smile on his face. I glimpsed at his power, something I hadn't focused on the last time we met, and shivered a little. Based on power alone we were pretty close; I had more varied affinities but he had one massive affinity in destruction. His aura, despite being deactivated, was still oddly controlled, whether through magical control or serious self discipline I couldn't say. Maybe both.

"Ah, Sirzechs! Please, drop the honorifics. We're in hell, not Japan." Yasaka smiled diplomatically, her previous distress melting away under politeness. I noticed that some people were openly watching the three of us now, though most pretended that they weren't noticing everything we said or did.

"If it makes you comfortable," he shrugged, still smiling. "Just dropping by to see what you and your, ah, I'm sorry, I'm not entirely sure of your relationship with each other." He looked between me and Yasaka, expectant at the flimsy excuse to be introduced to me. He couldn't just accuse me of almost hurting his family and disrupting the three factions meeting now, could he? That would be rude. Fucking politics.

"This is Abyss Mavros, an ally of the Yokai and god of…" Yasaka trailed off and blushed once again.

"Void. I recall," he said. I sensed a little anger veiled underneath his voice. Still, his smile was impeccable. He held out a hand to me. "Sirzechs Lucifer; Satan."

"Contrary to our first introduction I'd rather be friends," I said as I shook hands with literally Satan. All I got from Sirzechs was a blink of surprise and a slight narrowing a moment after.

"You have an interesting way of making friends," he said.

"I didn't have full control over my powers back when we first met. I was only aiming for Vali, not any of yours or your family. I'm sorry." I bowed my head to him briefly. He was silent for a second.

"You're forgiven," he decided. His tone was much warmer. "Sorry if I was a bit rough approaching you."

"It's perfectly fine. I'd feel threatened if my enemies showed up to a party of mine. I'd have the exact same response, though I might have employed a few more threats." He laughed politely at that, though I wasn't trying to make a joke. He seemed to realize this a moment later and his laugh turned to a cough.

"Well, I hope you have a nice time at the party," he leaned in closer. "And between us, if I could get away with it I'd do some threatening myself." I snickered in response and we shared a look before he left to socialize somewhere else. The people not so indiscreetly watching us returned to their normal conversations then, the drama apparently over.

"You handled that well," Yasaka said approvingly. I looked to see her smiling at me. "Elsyria said you might need some nudges to politic properly but it looks like you made amends quickly."

"I didn't act like a jerk and apologized. I screwed up when we first met. I'm not going to shy away from that." Yasaka nodded.

"Most would refuse to bow their head with power like yours."

"I control my power. It doesn't control me. If I respect a guy like Sirzechs I'll bow my head. My power has nothing to do with it." She looked even more approving at that, a smile edging at the corners of her mouth. A butler stopped by with drinks and I took a blue one and sipped it. Blueberry. Nice.

"So wise for somebody so young." She sipped an amber drink and started walking in no particular direction. I walked alongside her, just looking around.

"Twentyish by now, I think. Maybe more like nineteen." She blinked.

"You don't know your exact age?"

"I've traveled worlds more than a few times. It's… October here? Back home it'd be March." Yasaka looked interested in that.

"Other worlds?"

"That's a whole different topic for another time."

"And that time is now!" A familiar voice called. I turned to see Azazel striding up to me with a smile on his face. "Hey, buddy! Remember me?"

Then he reached me and with a small shockwave in the air his fist smashed into my face. I held off my aura and stumbled backwards, feeling for a broken nose. It was broken, not that it actually hurt with my body made of living metal. I let it be. The room was dead silent.

"Ow," I grunted.

"Azazel what the FUCK?!" Yasaka sounded furious.

"I deserved that one, actually," I said.

"Oh you deserve a lot more than that. Also, owwwww…" Azazel shifted from scolding to whining and holding his slightly bruised hand in an instant.

"I gave you a nice thing to study!"

"Yeah, right, I didn't get a chance! You didn't give me enough time!"

"I trusted you with a part of my dead mother's soul!"

"Fuck your mother!"

My fist slammed into his face this time, the crunch of bone accompanying it. The fallen angel braced a foot behind himself and grunted. His hand came up to his broken cheekbone and a green light shined.

"Okay, okay… I deserved that. I went too far," he apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Don't insult me or any of my family again," I waved my hand over my face and metal affinity flexed, flowing my nose back into shape. "But I get where you're coming from."

"Hmph… fine. I heard you apologized to Sirzechs," he said, frowning.

"For the three factions meeting? I might have felt bad before but now that we've socked each other in the face I'm not feeling so charitable."

"Dick," he accused me.

"Sure. I'm not the one who punches as a way of greeting."

"Touche. That was a bit blunt of me." He held his hand out to me. "Azazel. I prefer science and magical experimentation to punching people."

"Abyss," I shook his hand. Our gaze was a fair bit more hostile than when Sirzechs and I locked eyes. "I'm probably the expert in touki around here. Maybe the void too since Ophis isn't going to be chatty with anybody."

"Void? Actually, nevermind. We can talk later about scientific pursuits." Our hands separated.

"Look, I know this is a bad-"

"I'm not telling the kid," he interrupted me. "I know why you did what you did. He wouldn't get that. You threatened him to get to me. Not to hurt him. I'm not _that _much of an asshole." I nodded. He wasn't going to go spill the beans about me threatening Issei to the guy. I had said that I'd take his sacred gear if he didn't make one for me and I was serious, but there was no reason to drag the Red Dragon Emperor into the dark side of supernatural politics. It would be bad for both me and him and wouldn't help Azazel at all. No, that was going to stay buried for a long, long time if we could help it.

"See you around, then." I smiled at Azazel and he returned it, though it was a bit too sharp to be friendly.

"See you around." He walked away from me and I felt an arm on my shoulder.

"What. Was. That?" Yasaka asked slowly, anger permeating her tone. My smile turned to a grimace.

"Manly bonding," I lied. That was him venting on me for threatening his project and me showing him that I wasn't a piece of shit. Actual bonding would come later when we had cooler heads.

"Bullshit." Anyone could see that. Still, Yasaka shook her head and dragged me away from the staring, muttering crowds. By tomorrow everyone would be talking about me, for better or worse.

"What did you do to piss him off?" she hissed once we were away from the scene of the crime. Some people were always listening in but we were about as isolated as we were going to get without going into a closet or abandoned bedroom. That, though, would start rumors about us.

"I threatened what was his. He got pissed at me. Simple as that."

"And the 'kid'?" she asked coldly and quietly. I stared blankly at her for a second.

"What about him? He's fine."

"You threatened a child," she hissed angrily. I noticed some flickers of red dart through her golden eyes but brushed the oddity aside. Then I realized why she was angry.

"Oh, no I didn't. I wouldn't ever do that. I threatened one of Azazel's allies, one he was invested in… Yasaka, I would never threaten a child. Ever," I spoke lowly and as seriously as I could. Hurting children was just… no. Never. I'd seen some shit sweeping Vale's underworld and a lot more glimpsing at various worlds and I knew how terrible things could be. I wouldn't ever be so low.

"How old?" she asked sharply.

"Seventeen. He was dumb but he knew what he was getting into. Mostly. In any case I wouldn't have even killed him. I know I'm not the best person and making that threat was one of the worst things I ever did, but frankly I've done worse. But trust me in this, Yasaka. I have _never_, nor will I _ever_ hurt somebody purely innocent and I wouldn't harm a child of my own free will." She looked conflicted about that but it cleared up in a moment to a tired look.

"I want to be allies with you but you can't just drop this on my lap, Abyss. People are going to say things, good and bad. Considering that you were accused by Azazel, whose not exactly reputable but whose words carry weight, of threatening somebody, it isn't going to look good for me."

"People will say good things or bad things no matter what. They'll say good things about my humility in apologizing to Sirzechs and they'll speculate on what I did to piss off Azazel. They'll wonder why I'm here after being isolated for months and they'll make wild gossip about me and whoever is the target of the week. It'll come and go. But for now and for the future I just won't act like a dick and people won't think I am one. I don't do terrible things for no reason, Yasaka. I had reasons for everything I did. Maybe not good reasons, but reasons nonetheless." She didn't look entirely placated but nodded in acceptance at my justification.

"Fine… but we will talk about this later," she threatened.

"I know, I know," I grumbled. She huffed and then strided away, snatching another drink from the serving tray as she left. I had a moment to stare.

"Sexy when she's angry," I muttered, eyeing her ass. Then I shook myself out of it and looked around for somebody to talk to. I needed a social shield for the night so I didn't have to fend off hanger-ons. I tried sensing all the auras in the room and immediately found what I was looking for. I grinned and walked with a purpose towards the only angel in the manor, who was alone feeling sad in a quiet corner of the manor.

Time to introduce myself to heaven.

"Excuse me," I said smoothly as I appeared to the woman. "Is this seat open?"

The woman, a cute blond lady in a white and gold dress, beamed, though her aura showed surprise at being approached. "Of course! I don't mind at all!"

I grinned and sat down. "Abyss Mavros, pleasure to meet you."

"Gabriel, archangel of Heaven…"

[|||| =-= ||||]

"And Michael said 'Uriel! I thought you swore on Lucifer's balls!' and Uriel said 'These aren't his?'" She giggled at her joke while I laughed freely at the antics of the angels.

"Poor Uriel. Was there anybody around to ask him if his experience blowing horns helped with Lucifer's balls?" Gabriel snorted, an action that didn't exactly scream' angelic beauty'.

"We were all too busy laughing to keep going."

"A missed opportunity," I concluded. She hummed in agreement, smiling widely.

"So I've kept from asking but… I heard that you punched Azazel in the face?" she asked excitedly.

"Well… yes," I admitted.

"Hah!" she cheered. "Take that, you panty stealing jerk!"

"Bad blood?" I asked. She nodded, still smiling.

"I don't hate him; I forgive him for turning his back on Father, of course, he's my brother and I love him, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing him punched in the face every now and then."

"I, too, enjoy seeing him punched in the face," I said, holding a hand to my chest.

"Ah, allies in our never ending battle against perversity," she nodded approvingly. I was silent and her smile dropped to a face of betrayal. "No…"

"If I wanted to I could have twenty young women draped over me at all times," I coughed.

"No!"

"Look, I care deeply for all of them," I said seriously. Gabriel pouted.

"Another pervert," she sighed.

"I still think it's Ophis' harem. Not mine." She blinked at that and some gears seemed to work in her head.

"Oh, you're lovers?" She had a strange note to her voice.

"She's actually pregnant." Gabriel somehow managed to choke on nothing at all and the two of us were silent for a second.

"You… you might not want to spread that around," she said, sounding strained.

"Bah, whatever," I waved away her concern. "Ophis mostly lays down wherever she wants in the house and eats all the food. She may seem terrifying to you all but she doesn't mean any harm to anybody unless you pester her… or try to steal what's hers, meaning me. I'd be more concerned with the threats that are actually threatening."

"… Perhaps," she allowed. Then she came to a realization. "Hey wait a minute! No distracting me! You're polygamous! How could you?!" I sighed, my ploy having failed.

"I played around a year ago, sleeping with several women at once, all knowing that they weren't the only one or my first priority. When I returned to this world, and this was like four or five months ago I think, I started seriously dating Kuroka, the S-class devil and one of the nicest people I've known, not that she doesn't have an edge to her. She encouraged me to get with other women, being into that or something. Then Ophis did her thing and what do you know, I had two lovers. Then that snowballed to three and it would have kept increasing if I hadn't put my foot down. Still, Kuroka thinks I'm going to end up with about five or more lovers."

"That makes a startling amount of sense," Gabriel seemed to think for a moment. "If it's just three and you honestly care about them and you're honest I suppose that's… acceptable. I was worried that you had a genuine harem. For somebody of your position it would be easy, not to mention tempting to be more promiscuous."

"It's less tempting than you'd think. I prefer sloth to lust." I smiled lightly and Gabriel nodded.

"Sloth is one of the lesser vices in my opinion. It's still a sin yet more forgivable so long as it is tempered. You seem to have the virtues to amend for your faults."

"Thank you," I said, appreciating the comment on my virtues. She smiled softly.

"I tend to align myself with kindness myself. I can see that you are of the same mind. You did come over here to make me feel less lonely, after all." I paused at that, remembering that I was using her to avoid socializing. I opened my mouth to voice this and she put a finger to my lips. "Shh. I know what you're thinking. You weren't just coming here to comfort me, I know, but you are a kind person nonetheless. You acted out of sloth for kindness yet if you were purely self-serving in coming here you wouldn't have spoken to me so casually or opened up to me. You're a good person. You just don't think so."

She looked at me differently then, looking less like an innocent angel and more like an actual angel, pure kindness in her eyes and an innate forgiveness of my faults. My throat closed up a little and I was quiet for a moment to collect myself. Her gaze reminded me far too much of Summer's.

"Acting kind wasn't my objective. It wasn't kindness in my actions but a desire to not be a dick." She nodded with a knowing smile. I felt a little irritated then, so when her face lost it's kindness for a flat smile and an angry stare I felt a little gratified. Then somebody smashed into me from behind.

"I forgive you, Abyss!" somebody young said loudly. Breasts pressed themselves against the back of my head but I was too annoyed to even give them cursory notice.

"We were having a moment actually, so if you don't-"

"Pleh! Gabby's boring! I'm here to save you from her! If you keep talking with her she'll sign you up for a life of temperance or to volunteer in a church or something stupid like that!" Gabriel's eyebrows scrunched together in anger. She took a deep breath and released the tension.

"Serafall, it's good to see you as always," she smiled serenely.

"She's saying she hates me and she wants me to go away," the Leviathan whispered in my ear, twirling around me to sit uninvited on my lap. The short lady looked up at me , giving me a perfect look down her dress and smiling innocently.

"I would never say something like that to you, Serafall. You're one of my closest friends." Gabriel would murder her in a heartbeat, I could tell. Her look of kindness and forgiveness had untold rage buried underneath it.

"Good to know you forgive me for the whole three factions meeting," I grunted, picking Serafall off my lap and setting her onto the chair next to me. She scooched next to me and leaned on my side.

"Yup! I'm _just like Gabby_!" Gabriel's fury could have melted titanium. The area around us seemed a little brighter as she unconsciously released a little light affinity. "After all, it's the job of a magical girl to spread kindness and joy!" Her smile turned a little catty. "But that doesn't mean I'm all virtuous, unlike Gabby." A hand trailed over my abs and I gently pushed it away. Gabriel seemed smug as Serafall pouted, though she didn't seem at all put off.

"So mean, Abyss… wanna make it up to me? I'd love to get to know you better!" I winced at the brief flare of light and sheer power from Gabriel. Both the devil and angel pretended not to notice it.

"Could you be more specific?" I asked. By Serafall's smirk I knew I'd messed up.

"Well~ I would say, but I wouldn't want to make innocent little Gabby blush. She's a total virgin; no idea how to make a guy happy." Gabriel would scream if she could. I was certain of it. "So instead of dragging you behind a bedroom door how about you drink with me?" I glanced at Gabriel to see her finishing rolling her eyes. She blinked and looked at me innocently, somehow daring me to say something without changing her expression at all.

"Just the two of us? I wouldn't want to leave Gabriel alone, she's been very kind by tolerating me imposing myself on her."

"Mmm, yeah, I'd have brought you into a drinking game but you're right that leaving Gabby out of it would be kinda mean." I had the vision of playing strip poker with the Satan. Gabriel would glare at me if I looked and it would only push Sera fall to flirt harder to get me in trouble with her.

"Instead of going off alone and drinking let's just jump straight to the action together!" I nearly smacked her. Gabriel spoke up first.

"Could you explain, Serafall? I doubt that you mean for Abyss to take both of us here and now, not just because I'm an angel." Left unsaid was any mention of Serafall being shy of doing it in public. It was more subtle than the Satan's way of insulting her but still effective.

"Of course not! I'd never make you just watch!" What was even happening right now? How did it come to this? "But if you were to get into a drinking game Abyss would definitely end up groping you and I kinda wanna see that. But of course I wouldn't just watch so he can grope me too!" I prepared my space affinity for a teleport away from these two and I wanted to cry when both of my wrists were grabbed by the two.

"Hm. I suppose you're not wrong. Abyss is fairly handsome and… kind." She blushed a little bit and Serafall grinned while I suffered. Why couldn't I have female friends? Helen didn't count.

"Mhm!" Serafall then pulled my hand to her chest. I pulled back but her other hand joined, making me grope her.

"Tch." Gabriel's eyes narrowed, her rage more of a cold anger now than an inferno. My other hand was pulled to the angel's chest as she smiled beautifully. I glanced away from the girls and saw a small crowd had formed… again. Worst of all was Azazel smirking at me cruelly with a camera in his hands, though the dark haired girl with glasses glaring at Serafall was almost worse. That was definitely Sona Sitri, Serafall's little sister.

"So who's better?" Serafall asked teasingly, squeezing my hand a little bit.

"It isn't about who has better breasts, Sera. It's about who has the kinder heart." Gabriel took the opportunity to bury my hand between her breasts and squeeze lightly. Serafall growled a little at that and they both stared at me expectantly.

I couldn't really respond, however, since inside my mind I was screaming 'fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck' over and over again. I always forgot that dxd was an ecchi anime. Stuff like this was par for the course with that kind of anime.

So what did the typical anime protagonist do when placed in this sort of situation?

Well, they normally blushed, stuttered, and got interrupted somehow but a short glance at the crowd showed that nobody was going to step in and drag me out of this clusterfuck. So what did the protagonist do when there was no distraction?

… They acted like idiots and got slapped. That was out.

Was magic a solution? No, this was social stuff, my only true weakness. Magic was out. So what could I do?

Ah, right, I could do what no anime protagonist had ever done before. Turn the charm up to eleven and flatter the shit out of the two girls I was with. Protagonist luck wouldn't work here. I had to claw my way out of this by my own actions and do the one thing nobody expected. Flirt back harder than anyone thought I was capable of! Refuge in audacity!

"Well," I started. "I'm sorry, Serafall but Gabriel's are softer," Serafall looked surprised at my audacity while Gabriel smirked at her, though there was a full blush on her cheeks. "But that's not bad at all. Yours are firmer and easier to cup, not to mention that they're bouncier. Yours are just as impressive as Gabriel's and appeal to different people." Now for the final blow, something Gabriel had hinted at. Honest kindness. Fear my most powerful attack!

"Both of you have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of. I'm sure someday you'll both find somebody who will treasure you and your bodies above any other." I shamelessly ripped off Gabriel's kind, understanding smile and cranked up the brilliance. Somebody in the crowd gasped in what I hoped was awe.

I was so fucked.

Gabriel looked shocked and had a prominent blush on her face, looking genuinely touched. Serafall was similarly wide-eyed and blushing.

Then she moved herself over to my lap and smashed her face against mine, her tongue sparring against mine passionately. She grabbed my arms and moved them to her waist firmly and tried to suck my soul out of me.

"Balls. Of. STEEL!" Azazel cackled in the crowd. People were cheering, laughing incredulously, or gawking at me but I was a little too distracted to notice with Serafall throwing herself at me.

She separated with a gasp and looked heatedly into my eyes, a small line of spit still connecting us. "Call me," she said seriously, slipping something into my pocket. Her number, I assumed. She wiped her lips, blush still plain on her face, and walked away with a bit of sway to her step. I only stared for a moment. Then I turned to Gabriel.

"I am so-" She leaned forwards and kissed me gently, her arms wrapped around my neck tenderly. The crowd went wild, Azazel screaming a cheer at the top of his lungs.

Her tongue flicked against my lips playfully as she pulled away from me. "So kind," she said fondly. Her smile was brighter than ever and she, too, slipped something into my pocket. "Thank you for telling me that, that I'll find someone one day. That was very, very kind of you." She poked me and my stunned face on the nose and giggled as she walked away in a different direction that Serafall.

I just sat there, my mouth open in shock at how the hell I had pulled that off.

"Buddy," Azazel swaggered up to me. "I forgive you. You're so, so forgiven. Forgiven a hundred times over. Hug up." He spread his arms.

"Dust, no," I said vehemently. He laughed and patted his camera before walking off, a bounce in his step. I leaned back as the crowd dispersed, leaving some congratulations for me and a few jealous looks.

A few minutes later Yasaka walked up to me. "Really?... Really?" She sounded so done with me. "Well… Your religion is going to swell."

"I hate everything," I murmured.

"Gods cause miracles. That? That was a miracle. I've never seen somebody have the… the _balls_ to say that to either of those two. Ever. No wonder you have a harem with an attitude like that."

"Polyamorous," I mumbled.

"Mhmm. They gave you their numbers?"

"Yeah."

"Having a Seraph and a Satan show interest in the same man, both popular icons of their factions, filmed by Azazel no less? I think you just contributed more to real peace than anybody else tonight. Good job."

"Fuck this place. And Azazel. Can we leave now?" Yasaka sighed.

"Yes, we can leave. Let's go." I stood up and Yasaka put an arm around me as we walked away from the party. We didn't talk as we walked and found one of the hooded men in the teleporter rooms. He raised his arms and a magic circle appeared, changing the room back to Yasaka's home. We separated but before she opened the door she paused.

"We don't actually have to talk. That video is already going viral thanks to Azazel sending it to anybody who is anybody and I think I get what kind of person you are at this point." She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek because of course she did. I wasn't even surprised anymore.

"You're a nice person and if you've done some questionable things then I believe you when you say you had your reasons." She smirked and opened the door. "Kunou, we're home!" I walked out with her and saw Kunou, still in miko clothes, sitting on the couch and heard the familiar cry of Courage, The Cowardly Dog.

"This show is awesome!" she said excitedly. "I thought cartoons were mostly kids stuff! Oh, did you have a nice time?"

"We did, though Abyss got into trouble," Yasaka said, looking amused.

"Oooh, in the dog…" Kunou looked between my faunus ears and her and Yasaka's own fox ears and tails. Her mother snorted at the accidental joke.

"He was ambushed by the Leviathan and she drew Gabriel into one of her tricks again. Abyss had his hands pulled onto their chests and was asked which he liked more."

"Classic," The elementary schooler said fondly. I wondered if there was something deeply, fundamentally wrong with this world or if it was just supernatural culture that was so messed up that pulling a guy into groping was a 'classic'. I tended to stay at home or other worlds so I didn't know.

"And guess what he said?" She pulled her phone out and started typing something in.

"What?" Kunou asked excitedly. I sighed softly and edged towards the door.

_"Both of you have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of. I'm sure someday you'll both find somebody who will treasure you and your bodies above any other."_ The video was followed by Serafall grabbing my face and making out with me. Kunou cracked up, Yasaka laughing with her. I had my face in my hands from embarrassment.

"The smile!" Kunou recognized, laughing harder. Then Gabriel kissed me on the screen.

"Gabriel was _very _impressed." Yasaka grinned. Then she sat down along with her daughter and looked to me, gesturing for me to sit down next to Kunou. I hesitated, knowing where this was going. Still, Kunou looked to me with a pleading smile and I caved like the softie I am.

I sat down on the other side of Kunou and Yasaka leaned over her daughter to rest her head on my shoulder, pushing Kunou against me at the same time. Not that she seemed to mind.

Just like that almost two hours passed as we watched Courage, Kunou falling asleep on me. I let the episode finish and stopped the videos. Kunou didn't wake up.

Yasaka pulled herself off of me and gently picked up Kunou. "She's such a sweet girl… she needs a father figure in her life,." I didn't respond to the blatant hint and stood up as she walked to her room. "Goodnight, Abyss." Yasaka kissed my cheek again and walked off with her daughter. I heard her door click shut and was left alone.

I felt weird going home that night, even if it was a short trip since I teleported. I took a walk through the woods but couldn't place the feeling I had. When I got home everybody but Esdeath was already asleep. It didn't take long before I got into my bed and the others joined me for sleep. Thoughts of the women who were interested in me didn't haunt my sleep. I did wonder if my future daughter would be at all like Kunou, though. It seemed to sink in then that I would be a father soon.

I realized that that feeling was the sensation of finally growing up. I didn't know if I liked that or not.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Abyss what is this beautiful, glorious video of you making out with a Satan, Gabriel - THE Gabriel - kissing you, you groping both of them at the same time, and flirting the panties off of them? Tell me, oh amazing love of my life, what is this masterpiece?" Kuroka asked dramatically. She put down a phone with the video playing in the middle of the breakfast table for everybody to see.

"That's my life apparently," I said flatly.

"And what did you and Yasaka do, you naughty man?"

"She kissed me on the cheek and we watched some shows with her daughter."

"SCORE THREE FOR THE HAREM!"


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: You know that this is the third time I rewrote this chapter before I was happy with it? I've got eight thousand words just sitting around… let nobody ever say that writing is easy work but I still love it. **

**I've been having some trouble writing lately. It's not that I'm lacking much in inspiration or time. There's just not much happening lately. I don't write well when I'm bored. I need to be excited or happy or sad. Anything, really. It's hard to get into the 'writing zone' when everything is starting to get repetitive. I need to start writing more to get chapter 20 out before next Saturday. It might be a little late. I'll try to avoid that. **

**Lastly, there's one misspelling here. It's intentional and a pun on skeletons. No need to point it out. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 19**= ||||]

I walked into the guild, lazy eyes scanning the room, my cloak around my shoulders. All the adventurers were looking at me, but politely out of the corner of their eyes instead of outright staring. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ainz and his servant stiffen. He was wearing armor and hulking over a table while the servant, a doppleganger named Narberal, hid irritation and fear at me. I walked past them to the desk where a cute dark haired receptionist sat.

"Excuse me," I said pleasantly. "I'm a mage with a few years of experience. Some… circumstances have caused me to become an adventurer. Is there some sort of test I can take to advance past the lower ranks or is it a requirement to work my way up?" I gave her my most charming smile and she blushed.

"I-You'll have to start at copper like everybody else, sadly," she said, stuttering at first. I made a show of disappointment.

"I see. Am I limited in the jobs I can take?"

"If you join a more highly ranked group you can take more advanced jobs. Pay is divided according to whoever signed up for the job, though," she said, actually managing to sound sad for me. It was fake, but still nice to hear. Ah well.

"Hm. Alright then. I'm sorry to trouble you more but how do I increase my rank?"

"After taking enough jobs you become eligible for a rank test, wherein you demonstrate skill above your current rank." The receptionist smiled proudly. "I performed second tier magic to advance to iron rank, for example." I raised an eyebrow and peered into her mind to see what differentiated these 'ranks' of magic…

Seriously? A firebolt - literally just a teensy little fireball that doesn't even explode - is rank one? And rank two is a proper exploding fireball. Rank three is a teensy firestorm. Ainz is basically a god with how weak humans are here. Pathetic.

"Rank two?" I smiled but leaked a little condescension into it. "Impressive." She could tell I didn't mean it and looked a bit irritated.

"Here's your plate." She slid over a copper tag. "Just push some magic into it. You-" I had already inserted some aura into the flimsy enchantment. It broke. My aura was too potent for it. Too little and it couldn't detect me. Adding more broke it. I studied the enchantment and refined it to take on more powerful energies. The new one held my soul but it made the copper a little blued.

"Nevermind," she scoffed. Bitch. I turned away from her and looked at the job board when I felt Ainz get up from his seat and stride over to me. He held out his hand when I looked at him.

"You look competent. Can you use that sword?" He gestured to my waist, where a plain sword, if one made of high-carbon steel, lay sheathed.

"I can indeed. I'm more of a mage but I'm competent with it." Ainz nodded.

"I would like to speak with you. Chauncey?" He looked up at the receptionist. She looked respectfully to the armored man. "Could we borrow a private room if only for a moment?"

"Of course, Sir Momon. Room two is open." He nodded and we walked down past the desk and into the second room. Ainz, or I suppose he was calling himself Momon, towered with his arms crossed. Narberal stood beside him, her expression neutral.

"So you've come here. May I ask why?" he asked in his deep voice.

"Fun," I said simply. He seemed displeased by this so I elaborated. "Do you know exactly what I do every day, Momon?" He shook his head. "I can study magic, which gets boring, I can spend time with my wives, which gets tiring, I can attend to my followers, who _are _tiring if useful, or I can socialize. I have few responsibilities, wealth is no issue for me, and I'm one of the most powerful men alive here or there. So when you have almost everything you could ask for what would you do?"

Ainz was silent. "I would spend time with Nazarick," he said solemnly.

"And? That can't be all you do. What do you do when no hobbies interest you? When you simply need a break? For me I need an adventure. Conflict. A goal to strive for. Without it I just stagnate and grow apathetic. I hate that feeling. I need substance in my life. Challenge. So that's why I'm here. So that you and this world can entertain me."

"Challenge, you say?" he inquired.

"I limit my power when I adventure unless the world I'm in is no fun and I just want to leave. Some of my normal limits are the basic elements of fire, water, air, and earth or only manipulating space. Sometimes I just use my sword."

"I see… you put yourself in other's shoes."

"Exactly!" I grinned at his summarization.

"Then what are you pretending to be this time?"

"I don't know. I just started," I admitted. "I wasn't going to your tomb to play. I went there because I wanted to unleash my power on something. Mass destruction can be relaxing sometimes. The amusement of waltzing past all your defenses made my whole week!" Narberal looked irate again.

"Then if I may make a suggestion?" I was interested.

"Of course, so long as it's reasonable."

"How about you join our party?"

"I had considered that. I was prepared to go alone or join you, whichever was more convenient."

"Of course, yet do you know of the four party system?" I considered that. Four adventurers in a party… oh.

"Tank, healer, mage, DPS I believe, though some would argue for a rogue as well. For extra preparedness a ranged attacker such as an archer, gunslinger, or arbalist would be used but that's uncommon. The first four are the core of a proper adventuring party." Narberal opened her mouth but Ainz spoke first.

"The terms they use in this world are vanguard, mage, healer, and swordsman but yes, you are exactly correct. Narberal is my mage. I am the vanguard. Tell me, are you much of a healer?" I WAS interested.

"Not truly. For healing I tend to pour life essence into a person and have their body heal naturally. It's brutish and simple but gets the job done. I can dispel any curses or magical ailments easily by negating magic. Beyond those two tricks and transferring magical energy, a simple feat, I'm incompetent as a healer, though I have a wealth of knowledge about biology and anatomy."

"Hm… I was hoping to place you in a position where you have no experience. You seem at least adept at healing. Are there many fields where you are completely inexperienced?"

"I've done quite a lot in my life. Don't bother with swordsmanship or stealth arts. I know both forwards and backwards. Well, I could improve my swordsmanship slightly but compared to any mortal I've far surpassed their limits."

"Perhaps… a new field of magic?" he suggested.

"I've explored quite a few. Ice magics, storm magics, fire magics, antimagics, kinetic magics, life magics… I can't think of many fields of magic I'm poor at."

"Hm… what about buff magics?"

"Hmm… I can alter inertia, momentum, or other kinetic forces, slowing my foes and making my allies faster and stronger by altering space and kinetic forces as needed. I could easily flood anybody with a fraction of my power. Doing it properly is foreign but why bother when I can achieve the same result with less effort?"

"What of…"

"My liege if I may make a suggestion?" Narberal asked.

"Of course."

"You have mastered many arcane magics from what you've listed. What of blood?"

"Blood?" I tasted the word on my lips. "I… have never tried blood magics. I tend to go straight for the soul… I can see possibilities. Flesh and blood are fields I have never explored before, though I've experimented with them outside of magic." Narberal nodded and looked towards Ainz quietly.

"I was going to suggest a craftsman's role such as runes or enchanting, perhaps metalworking. Have you performed any of those?"

"I've mastered all three long ago beyond nearly any craftsman's abilities. They hold no interest to me unless you have some sort of anomaly that could inspire me to new heights." He shook his head.

"I would prefer to keep the treasures of Nazarick private. I doubt any of them would hold interest to you otherwise. If you have never used flesh magics perhaps now is a time to try? In fact, you could abstain from your power entirely, only taking from the powers in your body as a normal human. It would be a great limiter to you."

"It would be… alright then. I'll try blood magic." I felt pleased. I had never considered trying the magic before. Manipulating blood as a weapon would be interesting. I was definitely looking forward to it. Learning from and with Shalltear would be fun too.

"Excellent!" Ainz clapped his metal-shod hands together. "I will assign Shalltear to teach you blood magic. A new responsibility will be a fitting task to repay her for her failure in the defense of Nazarick."

"I'm not that bad," I grumbled.

"Her pride is wounded. Being near you will be a reminder of her failure," he said a little quickly. So I still scared him even though I admitted to sealing my power. Good.

"I'll return to my world for now and meet you in... let's say three hours. My current body is more like a golem's or a slime's than a man's. I will craft another one containing mundane blood. I'll be leaving a copy of my mind here with an illusion while I deal with my bodily issue. I'll be back soon."

"I understand. I will see you later." I left a solid illusion and manned it with a parallel while all of the others began meditating on blood so that I could gain the affinity. Meanwhile I killed a cow and grabbed some of my DNA.

I had a new body thrown together in half an hour, a faunus one of course. It just didn't have any of my fancy enhancements. It was a plain old faunus, albeit a decently muscled one. I moved into it and found seventy six strength, eighty six endurance, and seventy two dexterity. Perfect.

I prevented my aura from enhancing my body much at all, leaving me weak as hell. I was slightly enhanced by my aura but not to a very noticeable degree. It just kept away any aches and pains I might collect.

I checked my blood affinity and found it not only gained but at twenty seven base affinity. That measured to six hundred twenty eight affinity when my modifiers applied. I used a few points of mana to create blood from nothing and tossed it into my front yard. It looked like a horrible, brutal murder had occured. I made a tub of ice and looked at how much blood I could make with one point of mana. The little mote meshed with the affinity and the tub filled. A little measurements showed about enough blood to fill two kiddie pools. Was that weak enough? I wasn't sure. I would limit myself to a fraction of the affinity if it was too strong.

I teleported to Ainz and Narberal, who I found walking out of the city. I stepped to join them from behind a wall and my illusion disappeared, myself taking its place.

"Done," I said casually. A flex of the affinity and a thin stream of blood wove it's way between the fingers of my hand. "My body's blood is absent of any magic at all right now, but I'll add some more when I figure out the average concentration for the mages of this world. Or maybe Shalltear's blood's magical concentration divided in half. If I'm going to perform blood magic I want to conquer it through skill, not power."

"I… see. When we are alone could you demonstrate how powerful you are in blood magic? It would be tiring to begin with enough power that your adventures become boring. We're starting with the easier adventures, after all. You will have time to seek challenges and improvements."

"I'd be happy to. You don't need to justify your needs," I said. Narberal nodded to herself and we walked in silence while I wondered if I should bring Esdeath, Kuroka, or somebody else to the world I was in. I wanted some time by myself sometimes, but having them shake the place up could be interesting.

When we reached a forest outside of E-rantel we stopped. "Here is far enough. You won't bring notice to us if you release your power in blood magic will you?"

"Not too much. I may frighten some wildlife," I said, looking out into the forest and restraining from using my senses to scout out the area.

"Then please, reveal it to us," he asked politely. I grabbed hold of my blood affinity and pushed outwards into the world. The dew on the grass below us turned red and the air felt a little moist. You could smell iron a little bit if you were paying attention.

"You are not using magical power," Ainz observed.

"No."

"I see," he seemed troubled. "Most mages, without magical power, can only manifest minor spells. Cantrips, as they're often called. Would you attempt to summon blood without consuming power?" I did so and kept the globe suspended in the air.

"It is roughly a fifth the size of what Shalltear can summon without magic infused in it," he observed. "Pardon my impoliteness but how long did it take for you to acquire this magic?"

"About two minutes to gain the ability and three more to bring it to its current level. I'm not using a magical amplifier right now by the way," I said, studying the globe. I used a little mana and formed a lance of blood from the globe, compressing the blood. A little will congealed it to nearly a solid, though it was almost like an arrow with a conical head… no, I didn't want that.

I made the head jagged and infused a little magic into the blood. Then a flex of will sent it flying into the forest at a tree. It pierced through the first tree and lodged itself in the second before it went splat and painted the forest a little more red. I looked at the hole in the first tree, an uneven, jagged thing straight through the trunk, and hummed curiously.

***Ding!* New skill acquired! - Bloody lance**

"_**It's like water magic but more dramatic. The real stuff is in popping your enemies like overfilled balloons."**_

**-Riaj the sadistic, senior blood mage (Remnant)**

Since when did the skills quotes label people's dimensions of origins? It was necessary now, I supposed, but it was interesting that the system had changed in that tiny way. Was it due to necessity or my curiosity? Not that I cared too much.

"Impressive for a beginner. As far as blood mages go that was a weaker tier two spell," Ainz commented.

"What?! No, that's too much." I cut my use of the affinity in half and tried the same technique on a similar tree. This time I willed the blood to solidify farther and tried to will it to explode and fragment after it hit. It landed and blasted a crater halfway into the tree but then it exploded. It was liquid.

Blood splattered all over Ainz, Narberal, and I. Ainz was stoic but from his aura he was freaking out until that strange magic pressed on him and he calmed once more. Narberal's face was stony. I was looking at the blood on my hand. I experimentally licked a drop. "You know, I've always thought blood tasted pretty good. Too much is bad but it doesn't taste bad… hm." I made a small globe of blood and willed it to be a little sweeter and less iron-y. I stuck a finger in it and licked the finger. "Wow… that's pretty good. I've never tried using magic in cooking besides the ingredients." Then I remembered that we were covered in blood.

"Right, here." I willed the blood on the two to evaporate. Narberal huffed while Ainz nodded thankfully.

"It is appreciated. Perhaps you should launch your spells farther away next time."

"Right… splash damage." Nobody appreciated my pun, instead walking away. "I thought that one was pretty good… My sister would be proud. Her puns are way worse."

[|||| =-= ||||]

I grunted as I pressed against the goblin's blade. It was knocked aside, cut nearly in half, and I sliced halfway through it's head. It staggered back and fell to the ground dead as I immediately engaged with another. Its sword was much more gracefully batted aside and I cleanly stabbed it through the eye. I pulled my sword out and blocked a small arrow coming at me and threw another dense needle of blood. The third goblin tried to duck but ended up with a hole through the top of his head anyways.

"Hruh!" Ainz slashed his right greatsword mightily, sweeping through three goblins. Two were just knocked back by blows across their chests, though they were disabled. Narberal shot two arrows of ice through their hearts stoically while Ainz looked around.

"That's all of them," I said to clear up any doubts.

"Perhaps there are more hidden?"

"I've been working on being able to sense blood. It's still too powerful but I've been getting better with my new blood affinity. I can keep it below a hundred feet now. All the goblins here are dead." Ainz nodded.

"I suppose we'll need to collect their ears," he spoke in distaste.

"This is one of those times where I'm fine with cheating. I've done enough dull work in my lifetime to wave this off." I flash froze the membrane connecting each of the ears of the goblins to their skulls and then blasted the frozen areas with heat. With a cracking and a fluctuation of temperature each of the ears just fell off. A wave of my hand and they were all in a pile in front of us.

"Convenient," Ainz said. I might have been wrong, but was there a hint of jealousy in his tone? Heh, sucker.

"Very," I agreed.

"I would have been happy to complete the labour for you, lord Ainz," Narberal said with as much emotion as normal.

"No need to debase yourself, Narberal. Not when there's an easier, quicker solution," He assured her. "Though somebody will need to carry the ears."

"I've got a pocket in my cloak but I would prefer it to stay clean if you have a better solution."

"I will carry them, Lord Ainz." Narberal said, kneeling down to collect the ears. I smiled gratefully and was completely ignored in favor of Ainz's small nod of approval.

"Very good, Narberal. It is appreciated." She blushed slightly but her expression didn't really change. The ears were neatly placed in a leather satchel at the maid's side which was swiftly hidden from view. "Now, I suppose we might head back."

"I've been meaning to ask, do blood magic users often freeze their blood?" I asked as we began to walk out of the cave and its tunnels.

"Indeed. Shalltear often freezes blood in lances to send at her enemies," Ainz responded. I smiled and lifted up a leg. Goblin blood, which looked almost like normal blood but with a small amount of brown shading, flowed under me and wrapped around my foot, taking an odd shape. I stepped down on the construct and repeated the process for my other foot.

When I stepped next there was a small jerk to my step. I tsked and lubricated the wheels with the blood of some more goblins. With a flex of will it congealed to become more slimy and grease-like. It was gross but when I stepped next I was rolling, not walking. Bloody ice marked my path as I rolled my way down the cave tunnels.

"… What in the name of the supreme beings are those?" Narberal asked me, disbelief in her voice.

"Roller skates. I could have used ice skates but… well this is a little boring. I've gone goblin hunting countless times. I may as well mix this up somehow," I said, not disturbed by her feelings.

"A being such as yourself shouldn't be so-" She shut her mouth as Ainz stared at her intensely for a moment. A small bead of sweat accumulated on her forehead.

"An odd if somewhat repulsive contraption considering it's origins. For the sake of my party's reputation would you not bring it into town?" he asked.

"Always so polite, aren't you Ainz? Of course I wasn't going to skate into town. I'm not insane, merely eccentric and bored. Give yourself a few years and you'll have done things most will consider odd or disgraceful yourself by happenstance if nothing else."

"Lord Ainz would never debase himself," Narberal said firmly.

"Not willingly. Accidents happen. And that wasn't even a threat. Given a long period of time, events occur outside of people's control or completely by accident that have absurd results or what you might call disgraceful. I once died trying to avoid paying for a… carriage ride, believe it or not." Narberal looked at me in disbelief once more while Ainz chuckled.

"You live a strange life, Abyss, if an exciting one."

"I'm one of the people who has to seek out exciting things if I want them to happen. I could tell you some if you like. I could tell you about the many times I had tea with a dark overlady and discussed her marital issues with her ex husband, for example. Or the time I learned how to pick pockets from a middle school teacher. That ended in me founding a spy ring out of middle schoolers and teaching them how to polymorph. There was this one girl, Ocean, who wanted to become a giant spider, see, but she had the ability to make others ignore her, which was great for stealth but had some horrifying results. I sent her after my adoptive sister to spy on, the one that makes puns all the time…"

We talked nearly the whole way home. I had never roller skated before but with my stats it wasn't difficult, although going down hills at a walking pace needed some practice. I tried making a ramp only for my skates to break as soon as I fell back down to the ice. I had to make them all over again, not that it was difficult.

Ainz got progressively more comfortable and wistful, telling me about the time that Touch Me (weird name) had sparred with Warrior Takemikazuchi (Japanese?) using breadsticks as weapons. Narberal looked shocked that her 'supreme beings' weren't constantly formal perfect role models and did, in fact, do stupid stuff sometimes.

He told me about when Ancient One accidentally used confetti bombs instead of actual bombs in a formal duel, when Amanomahitotsu had tried to play as a tank and gotten pinned for an hour under the weight of a metal carapace, and when the whole guild had been cultivating some powerful materials called caloric stones and ended up doing chicken fights on top of golems they designed.

I, in turn, told him about Ruby's first magical mishaps, the first time I had made homemade cookies for the bandit tribe, the time Ruby dragged everyone through a forest to find the perfect Christmas tree and I passed around alcohol secretly, when I pretended to fight my friend Roman while half drunk with Yang, when Ruby collaborated with the clan to throw a birthday party for Raven, and a few other stories. I had to talk more than him since he often got sad talking about his old friends. I just said that I understood the feeling and we silently agreed to leave it at that.

Meanwhile Narberal, completely forgotten, listened to our tales silently, not wanting to interrupt us. I wasn't sure what she was going to do with the stories she heard but if Ainz was alright talking about them in front of her I wasn't going to stop him.

Our conversation petered out when we reached the city of E-rantel. I asked about a few parts of the city like the public baths and Ainz answered politely and just a little less formally than before, though he was still stiff. I felt like he was treating me less like a potential powerful enemy and more like an associate, which wasn't what I was looking for but was a step in the right direction.

"Now, where are the goblin… ah." Ainz immediately shifted back to formality when we reached the guild hall. He stared at Narberal for a moment and I realized that he wasn't comfortable telling all his stories in front of her. He had just let his guard down and forgotten her presence. He silently turned and walked inside the guild hall, the two of us following after him.

"Excuse me, ah, Chauncey. It's good to see that you're still here." The receptionist who had scoffed at me nodded politely at him. "We are here to fulfill the request for thirty eight goblin ears. Narberal?" He held out his hand and she produced the ears, handing them silently to her master. He placed them on the desk and the receptionist poked through the ears before nodding.

"That will be twenty silver as per the request and the bounty per goblin comes to six gold and twenty nine silver." She counted out the currency with a practiced quickness and pushed it over to Ainz. He nodded and swept the coins into two separate pouches.

"It is appreciated. I don't believe I'll be taking another job so soon. I've need to visit my family at the moment and it may be a week before I return."

"Of course, Sir Momon. I wish you well." She turned to her papers, formalities apparently completed. Momon turned away and handed me and Narberal ten silver coins. I didn't care and pocketed them. Narberal was the same and quietly hid the coins somewhere on her. The three of us exited the guild and walked out of town.

"Narberal," Ainz said as we were two blocks away from the city gate. "My apologies for forgetting your presence earlier as I traded stories with Abyss."

"It is fine, Sir Momon," she said, really seeming to mean it. If we weren't in public I was sure that she would say that her purpose was to serve or something.

"Your forgiveness is appreciated but I have to ask, though it feels awkward to do so… those stories you heard. I would prefer that you not tell those stories to your fellows."

"I understand, Momon. I had no intention of doing so." This seemed to surprise him.

"Truly? … Thank you. My friends and I were close comrades. Abyss was not wrong when he described how time would allow one to be in strange or humerus situations." The lich paused. "We were people, Narberal. We had moments of glory such as the triumphs you have heard of as well as moments of play and merriment. Though you have heard of one facet of us we were many things, one of which being friends, which naturally led to the situations you heard described."

"I understand, Ai-Momon," she said, barely correcting herself. He nodded and turned away. I wondered just what his relationship with the lady - she was clearly a servant of some sort but I was getting the impression that she normally viewed Ainz as greater than he actually was, a bit like me with some of my more ardent followers, though thankfully I had only met them through answering a few prayers. It implied that they didn't have much of a personal relationship yet knew each other well. It made me curious to know more about Nazarick. Just what was Ainz to its members?

[|||| =-= ||||]

As soon as we were out of sight of the city and we confirmed that nobody was around us Ainz opened a portal back to Nazarick and I looked at the tomb's surface. It was nearly covered in dirt, obscured completely from the outside if not for a few hidden entrances. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed them.

Since there was no reason for me to keep up the facade of an adventurer I switched bodies in an instant, my weaker one going into my soul space and the familiar metal one returning out. My aura flowed freely and I relished the strength in my limbs. Faunus forms just weren't very nice when compared to those specifically meant for a soul like mine. They were typically used by people with souls too weak to act independently of a body's assistance, not that that was a bad thing.

"Narberal, you are dismissed for the day," Ainz said. He shined with light for a moment. Flowing black, purple, and gold robes appeared draped over him as a staff materialized in his hand. His skull was left open and staring out into the world instead of hidden behind any kind of mask.

"As you wish, Lord Ainz." She bowed deeply and left out of sight. A moment of silence passed before he sighed.

"She is loyal but oh so formal," he said more relaxedly. I blinked.

"I was starting to think that you were that formal all the time."

"Goodness, no," he chuckled, totally lying to my face. "Even I need to relax sometimes. I don't sleep but I do rest. I would fall into inefficiency if I were to be formal every day without pause." Absolutely, one hundred percent lying. Why, though? To seem friendlier than normal? To get into my good graces? Odd.

"You always speak with grammar like 'inefficiency' and 'without pause', then?"

"Well… mostly." He seemed a little embarrassed but was telling the truth that time. I shrugged.

"What you do with your free time is your business. I've never been formal, though I'm not often in the role of a subordinate. I have been a student, though. And, correct me if I'm wrong but you seem to understand your servants' positions and actions quite well. Sympathetic, maybe? Or have you been the servant before?" Ainz laughed, or he made the sound, anyways. He was doing some more social-fu, testing out ways to get me to relate to him more and make me less inclined to smite him.

"Indeed, I've had to take orders before. Discipline is important on adventures, of which I've been on many with my comrades."

"I see." I didn't buy it. You didn't learn the part of a subordinate with friends. You learned it with a job. Ainz either ignored my suspicion or didn't notice.

"Here. I have a magical artifact that will teleport us to Shalltear." I looked at the ring on his finger. It looked like a poorly made blink spell tied to the wards around Nazarick. It, unlike most magical teleportation, wouldn't alert every being in Nazarick about being attacked, letting the denizens travel around the tomb freely.

I took Ainz's bony hand for a moment and immediately let go after he teleported. He was a lot taller than me. It made me feel like a kid holding his parent's hand, not a pleasant feeling.

"Shalltear," Ainz spoke a little loudly. I looked around to see us on the third floor of the tomb of Nazarick, right outside of Shalltear's house. With only a moment of pause the vampire opened the door, her dress a little ruffled and her eyes a bit tired. She looked at Ainz curiously and then noticed me. Her lips curled and her eyes hid thinly veiled distaste, not that she or Ainz acknowledged it.

"Abyss has returned to this world in the search of adventure and amusement. He has decided that Nazarick is… sufficient." The magic in his head activated again. I had definitely heard anger in the word 'sufficient'. "In his endeavor to amuse himself he is masquerading as an adventurer and is joining Narberal and I for the time being." He was calm in the latter half of his sentences. I knew what the strange magic he was using was now. It was a sort of calm magic, or maybe an emotion-nullifying magic. I would need to look closer to be sure. Was it tied into his soul? If so that would seem like a curse. I would hate to be calm all the time.

"In this masquerade of his he has decided to master a new form of magic to weaken himself and provide a minimum amount of challenge. He has decided that he would learn blood magic, which you will be teaching him." Shalltear's eyes widened for a moment before her shock turned to anger, which she shoved deep, deep down immediately.

"As Ainz is too polite to say to my face, this is a punishment for you since you pretty much invited me into the tomb with open arms," I said plainly. She nearly glared at me but once more muffled the anger.

"I understand, Lord Ainz," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I will try to make up for my failure earlier with this task."

"That's not-"

"Ainz," I interrupted him. Shalltear glared at me furiously in defense of her lord and was forced to take a deep breath. Ainz was too busy turning to me to even notice, the dense man. "Don't worry about it. I can deal with this." He stared at me and nodded.

"I will leave you to it, then. Please, take as long as you require." He glowed white for a moment and the space magic in his ring took hold of him and pulled him elsewhere. I turned to Shalltear.

"So are you going to let out that anger you keep shoving down now?" I was hoping for the best.

She turned to face me and I really hated all that hidden anger in her eyes. "I am going to teach you blood magic, as Lord Ainz requested," she said politely. Damnit! I would rather that she get it out and we come to an understanding. Instead I would have to deal with her being pissy and 'secretly' angry the entire session. Unless I could bring it out.

"Fine, so I created a few small spells based off of what ice magic I know."

"Most blood magic is a variation of ice, water, or blood magic," she said calmly. I flicked my hand and a red lance of ice flew from my fingertips to a nearby tree. It was pierced, a flurry of wood chips flying behind it. I quickly healed it and threw the ice again. The lance exploded in a mess of icy splinters on contact this time, though. Finally I held my palm out and made a ball of coagulated blood, surprisingly solid. I threw it and more bloody ice slivers were born in a violent flurry around it, whipping around the ball. The ground underneath it was torn apart as it flew, the ball slowly growing smaller as it traveled. When it hit the tree it splattered and exploded into a flurry far more violent than before, tearing the tree halfway apart before dying out. I healed it a third time.

"So what do you think? It all seems kind of boring to me, just red ice magic," I said casually.

"It's weak," she said bluntly. "Besides not being tier magic, some strange type I don't care to understand, it's not proper blood magic. Blood magic relates to stealing your enemy's lifeforce and making it your own or using your own lifeforce to devastate your enemies."

"Does it work against enemies that don't have blood?" I asked. She nodded. "Try it on me." She looked at me for a moment before she raised her hand and a circle of solidified mana appeared, weaving affinity into a spell. It was a bit like DxD's human magic but with less of a toll on the user, the calculations required to use external affinity being routed to… somewhere else.

"Life leeches," she announced. There was a faintly ringing quality to her voice for some reason, likely a side-effect of this 'tier magic' thing that all the locals are so focused on.

Four tendrils of blood arced out of the spell circle and attacked me, Shalltear's soul lancing through them. I felt distaste at the things but let them touch me. They grabbed onto me like leeches - ewww, gross, and Shalltear's soul tried to pull on my aura. It failed without me even doing anything.

"What?" She sounded shocked. I made a noise of disgust and drew on my blood affinity, trying to control the leech-like constructs. I succeeded easily and threw them and the blood composing them aside. Shalltear's soul, no longer suspended in the mana holding the bloody construct together, fell apart away from her body.

"That was just gross. And inefficient," I said, magically pulling the blood off of me.

"What did you do?!" she demanded. "And why weren't you affected?!"

"Firstly, you tried to control my soul. I am a god, and thus an energy construct puppeting this body. I am my soul. What you did was no different from a toddler trying to pull down a warrior's arm. For the spell I just grabbed ahold of it with my blood magic. Let me guess, you can't do that."

"… No." That seemed to anger her.

"Considering how powerful your souls are that's a little odd. Perks of having full control of your soul, I suppose. But anyways, I wouldn't even call that a spell. I could do that in my sleep. It's just your soul grabbing onto mine and pulling away chunks to revitalize yourself. Here." I made some fifty tentacled limbs out of blood and coursed my soul through them. "Boom. Spell accomplished. Lame."

"What do you need a spell for if you can do _that_?" she asked angrily.

"Variety. That and fitting in. Why do you think Ainz doesn't use spells? He's so far above any crappy spellcaster from the human kingdoms he's amusing himself in that he might forget how weak their spells are and use something more impressive, accidentally outing himself. If I just did this all about the kingdoms I'd be an abnormality, somebody that draws more attention than needed. If I wanted to be worshipped as a god or some supreme magician I wouldn't bother with the whole adventurer schtick going on here." She nodded at my logic, though her surprise hadn't driven away her anger for me, just put it aside for a moment.

"That was a fourth-tier spell. Here's an eighth." She waved her arm and a much more complex spell circle appeared. "Boost magic: Mists of the dragon." A bloody red mist flew out of her hand, blood vapor, and the magic circle directed it to spread in a V shape in front of her. I was caught in the middle and I winced at strong cuts across my body, all of them managing to sap tiny little amounts of my aura if I didn't resist them consciously. I ignored the damage and tried to understand what was happening.

The mist was blood, but it wasn't just blood being manipulated here. The force hurting me was piercing, not caustic or anything - ooh, acidic blood mists, gotta remember that for later - so there was a cutting force being generated from vapor alone. Was it from the air?

I focused on the air and felt a small blast of air but going away from where blood was trying to pierce my skin. Now that I focused on it there was a little raw mana being released from the impact site as well. Some of it affected - hey wait! Ohhhhhh, that's what she's doing!

I laughed out loud. "That's really creative! You're binding mana into the blood and, when the mana clumps hit me, they explode! I've never thought much of raw mana constructs but weaving them _into _a spell like that? Ingenious! … Shalltear?"

Where was Shalltear?

I looked around for the vampire and immediately found her soul dispersed within the mists. She seemed to realize that I saw her and she lunged for me. I used Body of Worlds and turned my own body to a bloody mist as I ran through her own form. Her misty form recoiled at my sudden transformation and I lunged myself, projecting my soul with a slash of blood as a medium. Her soul rocked violently, a good chunk torn off, like an eighth almost, and I heard her voice.

"Boost magic: Devourer of vitality." Her dispersed form collected into a solid again and she flung some sort of snake made of blood at me, the tail connected to her hand. It was just a fancy version of her leech things but with a snake and more aura in it. Well whatever she was doing it was a good chance to try out caustic blood.

"What's with the sudden attacks?" I asked through air as I formed a defense. I wanted to try out the raw mana construct trick. Mana weaved into tightly wound knots of blades inside a tiny division of my aura, the void removed from it. I let the snake latch onto my arm, it's fangs ineffectually gnawing at me, and fed it the trapped aura.

"You-GAHGHGHHH-OH!" She screamed as her body was suddenly cut into ribbons by the mana bombs, all of them exploding on her at once. My aura coursed through her at the same time, giving her a conflicted expression of vicious pain and… ecstacy?

"Oh… Oh my." Her wounds healed rapidly, faster than almost any I had ever seen. "Your life. Delicious." She shivered and looked at me hungrily with a creepy smile, her already red eyes glowing crimson. Her hands trailed over her arms, looking disturbingly like an addict looking at her next fix. "I want MORE!" Her face warped horrifically, a lamprey-like circular mouth and long, pointed tongue poked out of it, twitching around as though looking for something. Sharp claws grew from her hands and feet, something Freddy Kreuger would be proud of. Her face shriveled and her ears lengthened, making a mockery of a human face, looking like something straight out of a horror novel.

I didn't have time to yell something explicit as she immediately leapt for me, claws slashing. I quickly came up with a plan and made a bottle out of bloody ice. I filled it with the rich, sweet blood I had tried making earlier today and since aura had some sort of effect on her I infused the blood with some of it.

I promptly shoved the bottle into Shalltear's hands and threw myself backwards. She shoved half the bottle into her mouth and guzzled it. Her clawed hands grasped the bottle and tilted it upwards as she sat down on the ground cross-legged and groaned erotically. Her inhuman eyes fluttered their eyelashes and gradually became more human.

"Not touching that," I muttered to myself. "No way in hell. Nope right the fuck out."

Shalltear slowly came back to a human form, albeit one where her hair was a rat's nest and her dress was a rumpled mess. Her transformation seemed to stall as the bottle emptied. She then proceeded to crunch down on the bottle. Another full-body shiver went through her and she took another bite, the finishing touches to her reversion completing.

"So are you going to be going crazy again or are you better now?" She finished off the ice-bottle and licked her blood stained lips in satisfaction. Most of it was just smeared around a little but she got some of it. I wasn't even sure if she had heard me. She paused for a few silent seconds before her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.

"What?! Wait, what?! Oh, um-OH!" She looked at me in a panic. "Uh, I, sorry? Sorry!" She jumped to her feet and bowed her head.

"I…. I-" oh shit, she was crying. How do you comfort a crying girl again? Ah, right. "I've failed Lord Ainz already!" Oh, she didn't feel bad for me… Not sure what I expected there. No, that doesn't change that I still made her cry, even by accident. "Not even half an hour and I… I _completely_ lose control like some sort of… of _beast_!"

"Aww, don't worry." I smiled reassuringly and, though I really didn't want her anywhere near me after she turned into a horrific ghoul, reached out to hug her. She pushed me away feebly.

"No! I don't want a hug!" she said, still crying.

"Yes you do," I said confidently. I turned her around and sat down on a chair I made in an instant, setting her on my lap and combing her hair soothingly with my fingers.

"… I've failed Lord Ainz," she sobbed into her hands. "He's… he's the only one left! I don't want him to leave us too!" That set off alarm bells and I realized that this was the perfect time to learn about Nazarick and its secrets. What was Ainz hiding? Why were its members just hiding the top of the tomb when I got here? Had they moved here? But… Shalltear was alright. I wasn't going to take advantage of her like that.

"He's a forgiving person," I told her.

"I've failed him! This was the most important mission I could have gotten but… but I couldn't even keep my own anger in check for him! Nobody shoul-should forgive that! I'm the worst guardian ever!"

"Ainz would. You're family to him, and it's not your fault that you lost control."

"Albedo wouldn't have messed up! I can't even measure up to her!"

"Could Albedo have taught anything about blood magic?"

"No," she sniffed.

"There you have it! You did a job nobody else in Nazarick could! Sure, you didn't do it perfectly but you've perfectly distracted me with blood magic. I learned a ton from you, actually."

"You did?"

"Yup. That's hardly the only thing that makes you better than her." She furrowed her brows, as though trying to think of something. "You're way cuter than her." Ruby loved being called cute. Worked every time to make her feel better. Shalltear blinked, stunned.

"OH CRAP!" She leapt off my lap like it was on fire, face blushing. She swallowed something down and spoke primly, ignoring her red eyes, bloodstained mouth like the worst lipstick ever, and half-combed hair. "Ahem, you're clearly talented in blood magic. At the very least your blood magic and natural intuition for magic will allow you to fake most magic that would be required. Anything under fifth tier blood magic is just ice-based blood constructs or lifeforce transfusals. The name doesn't matter for you. Just make something up as need be and call them original spells." I nodded and looked over her appearance once more.

"Let's go see Ainz to tell him how successful this session was. I don't think we'll get any more done today and I have a ton of new spells to try out." Shalltear nodded, taking the escape I offered, and worked to smooth out her dress with surprising success. She coughed and did her best to look proper. Her hair was still a mess and her face was smeared with my conjured blood. Good enough.

"I have a guild ring from Lord Ainz. It allows me to quickly travel through the halls of Nazarick. If you would please?" She held a hand out like Ainz had and I walked to her and took it gently. I felt the warp happen once more and found myself in Ainz's office. Perfect.

"Lord Ainz," Shalltear said formally. The lich looked up from his desk to see the vampire looking a bit like a mess. I noticed a maid of some sort standing dutifully to his right against the wall. She stared at Shalltear judgingly. "The session was a success. I feel that… Lord Abyss has learned quite a lot from my demonstrations. He's quite a prodigy, though there is more to learn in the future."

"Oh, and our issues are worked out, as I said." I smiled and ignored the fact that the way we had fixed our issues was completely different than I had thought would happen. I was just going to irritate her until she blew up in my face, whereupon I would surprise-hug her and congratulate her for quitting the formality, probably with snacks or blood or something. Repeat until results are acquired and she associates being honest with her feelings with snacks, hugs, and good feelings. "Although as you can see, she turned to the bottle before we were half finished." I waved at Shalltear.

She blinked uncomprehendingly before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and looking aghast at the blood staining it. I snickered and erased the blood staining the area around her mouth.

"Good," Ainz said, giving no hints to his emotions. "I didn't expect results so quickly but I do hope that you have learned at least a part of what you needed."

"I have," I ruffled Shalltear's hair and she slapped my hand away. "If anything, I would come back just because of how cute your subordinate is."

"I'm sexy, you bastard!" she snapped. Her hand instantly clapped over her mouth and she looked horrified.

"My parents were married, excuse you," I said, unoffended. "And yes, you are very sexy. Most of the time. I prefer you flirting to trying to suck my soul out of me literally. Save it for the bedroom, won't you?" Shalltear blinked and then looked irritated while Ainz was stoically trying to remember if he went insane recently.

"Please! _Your_ limp dick? Didn't you throw a bottle at me and run away when I attacked you?" she sniped back.

"Excuse you? I have three wives!" Shalltear barked a laugh.

"And I have as many vampire brides as I please! I suppose you're just less manly than even me, the peak of femininity!" Ainz got a headache at the implication she made about her 'vampire brides', which I presumed were servants of some kind. I was getting drawn into something here but I was a bit stung by the implication that I wasn't all that good in the bedroom.

"Peak of femininity, huh?" I walked closer to her and poked her in the head, scoffing. "Girly, you mean?" She grew red with anger.

"Lady Shalltear, Lord Abyss, it would be quite improper to forniceate in front of Lord Ainz." The maid interrupted us. I spluttered. Shalltear scoffed this time.

"He's good at S&M but I'm pretty sure that he's only an S. Also, I prefer undead."

"… I've died a few times, actually. I'm only as alive as the bodies I make. Does that actually count? I'm not sure about the criteria for being undead," I wondered. I noticed Ainz sigh and resume his work, writing something on his papers.

"Do you have a heartbeat?"

"Only so much as I want one." Shalltear looked thoughtful at that.

"You switch between living and undead, I guess? Only technically. By undead I mean like, pale skin and such. Like you know how people prepare their dead for open coffins?"

"Oh, like this?" I used an illusion to make myself seem skinnier and more pale.

"Exactly like that… oh…" She looked at me as though in a new light. "Hm… say, I'm set on Lord Ainz but you could be fun." I stared at her.

"About twenty minutes ago you wanted to…" I trailed off at that. Some days I was pretty sure Esdeath still wanted to kill me. Some people got weird about who they wanted to kill. Shalltear was abnormal in her interests but not completely foreign. But did I want to sleep with Shalltear? She was pretty horrifying when she went feral but she was pretty tame now. I noticed her dress move a little from side to side. Was she rubbing her legs together? "Tempting but I'll have to pass for now. I wasn't exactly seeing you at your best today. Maybe next time." She pouted but nodded.

I took one moment to glance at Ainz and the map behind him. I took a quick note of the continents of Ainz's world and heard Shalltear gasp.

"Sorry, Lord Ainz! I, um… bye!" She glowed white and disappeared. Ainz kept working with his papers.

"See you later, Ainz." I waved to him. He ignored me while the maid looked tersely at me. That was fine. I slipped out of the wards using the same method that the guild rings Ainz and Shalltear had used and went back to my home dimension.

"Esdeath?" I called out in my home. "I've got a continent in need of conquering!"

Ainz seemed to have a nice world but he didn't think that I was going to put all my eggs in one basket, did he? Well actually he had a horrible world, but one rife with opportunity and conflict. His map had a continent labeled the Draconic kingdom with the notes 'overrun by beastmen' and 'desperate for aid'. Maybe now Esdeath would have an outlet for all of her bloodlust. And maybe an army for her to spend some time on if she got things in order. I was sure that Elsyria could do with some more potential cultists.

Was I setting myself up to be a conqueror of worlds? It sounded like a lot of work. Maybe just one world.


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: I feel like I'm doing a crappy job with some of the stuff in Worm and a great job with other parts. Anyways, if you've read the series then you probably know about the monster in Coil's basement. I haven't forgotten about her. She'll get her time in the spotlight soon enough. **

**Otherwise this was a fun chapter, though I had a few parts where my mind just sorta refused to work. I haven't written a lemon since like… chapter 11. Time to fix that. No it's not Shalltear. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 20**= ||||]

"_No… nononono…" _I stopped looking through the records of the Dragon kingdom in Ainz's world and focused on the voice. Taylor. One look through her eyes and I saw what was wrong. A dead body in front of her and cold mist in the air.

I sighed in preparation for some heavy emotions and spoke to her. _"First kill?"_

"_I-I didn't… he was shooting at me and… Why did I never learn how to… to knock people out?" _I looked through her eyes and saw somebody in grey fatigues splayed out on the floor, a rifle beside him. His face was covered by a ballistic mask and plastic armor covered most of his body, a ballistic vest over his chest. Through his chest was a spear of ice, piercing the kevlar. Irisai was holding an arrow nocked, her eyes scanning the area. She was likely listening for signs of alarm as well.

"_I see that you can make a decent spear now, and throw it as well." _This was definitely the wrong thing to say as Taylor shuddered at my voice. _"Know that the man you killed is one that condoned the actions of Coil: the kidnapping and drugging of a little girl, the forced conscription of another, the murder of many parahumans or regular humans, and whatever worse deeds he had done in the past. He killed for money. You killed to preserve your life. Lives have been taken for less. That you feel guilt is a sign of responsibility. Keep it but don't let it conquer you. Lean on your friends if you need to. For now, though, move on. You seem to be busy."_

As if on my signal Irisai took that time to move onwards. "Lets go," she said to Taylor. I took the opportunity to leave Taylor's mind and do my own work. I was still paying attention, though. I watched as Taylor was much more gentle with the future mercenaries she encountered and Irisai crippled whoever she came across, typically through the piercing or breaking of knees and some sort of fatiguing enchantment on her dagger.

When they came across Coil's office I saw how he was speaking with a blond girl in a skin-tight purple suit, a few eyes over it along lines going over her body.

"What?" he said, seemingly surprised. Neither Irisai or Taylor seemed to notice it but he winced a little a moment after they entered the room. Something happened in his other timeline?

"… I'm sorry," Taylor said, sounding genuinely pained as the room began to frost over. Coil's eyes widened before he looked defiant.

"Because you're going to kill me?" he asked aggressively. Nobody responded. "You don't even know what I want for the bay, what I could do." Still nobody said anything.

"I have eyes everywhere, contacts in the PRT, local government, police, everywhere. I'm influential, far more than you. What do you think is going to happen when I-"

"Kill him. He's bluffing," The blond girl, Tattletale, said coldly. Taylor kept hesitating.

"A bluff?" Coil scoffed. "And what have I done? I'm the only decent villain in the bay, the only-"

"You kidnapped Dinah Alcott," Taylor said stoically. There was a tremble in her voice.

"So I deserve to be _executed_?! Slaughtered like a dog at the pound?!" He seemed genuinely angry now, probably working himself up to seem more honest with his emotions.

"She's twelve. You drugged her," Taylor argued weakly.

"So take her! Don't you want to be a hero?! Save the princess, capture the bad guy, and everyone will love you! Kill me and you're the bad guy. A _villain_." Taylor flinched and the frost in the room faded a little.

I decided to help out a little. _"Dual timelines. Ask him what he was doing to Tattletale before you got here in the other timeline."_ Taylor looked between Tattletale and Coil once.

"Dual timelines," she said. Tattletale blinked before her mouth changed to an O. Coi's face darkened. "What were you doing to Lisa in the other timeline?"

"Asking her-"

"Lie," Lisa said immediately. The frost grew again.

"My interests were in-"

"It's something personal. Something he doesn't want you to know," Tattletale observed. "Something that could get him killed? Something villainous. Like, really bad. You killed him the moment you saw him in the other timeline for it… what the fuck were you doing to me in the other… no." Tattletale paled. Coil scowled.

"He was… Taylor, kill him. Please," The girl pleaded.

"What was he doing?" she asked mercilessly.

"He was… He…" Tattletale was turning green.

"Rape," Irisai said simply, a grave expression on her face. Coil swallowed, realizing that he was in a room with two extremely deadly women. They both turned to him. His hand flew into a drawer beneath his desk and-

A chunk of ice, just a malformed mass of it, flew into his head, painting the wall behind him crimson with a nice crater where the ice hit the wall. He fell backwards and slumped against the wall.

"_A debt repaid. The base is mine?"_

"It's yours," Taylor said hoarsely.

"_Good. Leave it and give the mercenaries to the PRT or police. Or leave them, though know that they'll all be dead if you leave them when I take the base. I'm far less merciful than you are."_

"We're getting the mercs out of the base," Taylor said.

"They're not dead?" Tattletale asked in alarm. "Fuck, I was kinda hoping for a secret base, Tay."

"Grab what you want. The base is… it's not mine. Or yours. It's somebody else's."

"Abyss'," Irisai said.

"Abyss? Edgy… you owe him? Ooh boy, a lot… hold on. We'll talk about this later. Money now, talk later." Tattletale ignored Coil's corpse and leaned over his computer. I left the scene and gave the crew a half hour, in which time they moved all of the mercenaries out of the base and dragged Tattletale out.

"_Mine,"_ I said. And with that I wrapped the base in space affinity and folded. The whole construction site seemed to sink into the earth, the dirt closing up over it, stretched by my magic. It was still there, just buried in-between folds of space.

"Ho-ly fuck," Tattletale said, sounding shaken by the display.

"Yup, that's my god," Irisai said proudly.

[|||| =-= ||||]

The phone rang softly. I rubbed my chin for a moment and frowned at the peach fuzz on it. I was… growing a beard? I supposed it was technically possible. The liquid metal of my body was designed to take after my body's faunus features as a template so-

"Hello?" a high voice asked from the other end.

"Hi Serafa-" I was interrupted by a screeching noise coming from the phone. I held it away from me while my ears twitched quickly, irritated at the noise.

"ABYSS! A-ahem, Abyss! Took you long enough to call me!" the childish woman said to me quickly. The words practically fell out of the phone from raw enthusiasm.

"I've been busy." A total lie. I just got glued to my screen. Taylor's crisis was the most important thing to happen in three days. Otherwise I'd just been handing my work off to my subordinates. "And I finally realized that I could put some work off. Are you free today? Wait, what time is-oh, it's only noon? Do you want to meet up sometime soon?"

"Sure! I'm free now if you want me!" Something seemed off in that sentence.

"I'd love to," I heard a soft squee from the other end, barely audible even to me. "Any ideas? I'm making this up on the fly. I think there's an anime convention somewhere in the world. Maybe an arca-... I have infinite cash. Let's go to an arcade." I realized with a sudden clarity that I could blow hundreds at an arcade and my wallet wouldn't take a dent. What had I been doing all my life?

"I'd be up for an arcade! I haven't been to one since my sister was a toddler. I've always been so busy."

Could I buy an arcade? I could make gold as needed. I could turn fucking New York into solid gold if I used all my mana, and Elsyria could totally sell that. Of course I could buy an arcade.

"Hold on, I'm just realizing some stuff here. It never really occurred to me how rich I am. I'd totally be up to see you at the arcade. Could I get to you later?"

"Um… okay!" She sounded a little confused. A moment later her mood shifted entirely "I'll meet you at Kuoh town's game center, okay?! Magical girl Serafall… Away!" She hung up.

Kuoh town? The place Issei was? Ah well. So long as I didn't act like a dick again I would probably be fine. I still felt a little bad crashing the DxD timeline. That said…

The phone beeped once before my servant picked up. "Lord Abyss, was there something you needed?" Elsyria sounded like she was in a good mood.

"Do we have people who would be interested in buying or selling gold in the cult?" I asked.

"Totally!"

"I need you to buy Kuoh game center. I'll make it rain gold on you if you need it."

"Is it an independent store? Hold on… it's on the market and going out of business apparently. Some old guy doesn't want it anymore. I'll just buy it - and done. Just gave one store manager a heart attack, I think. It's owned by one of our shell companies. Want a certificate of ownership or something?"

"I'm going to give it to Serafall Leviathan, so sure. I just realized that being rich solves a lot of my problems. I didn't actually realize that I could make it rain gold until a minute ago. Thanks, Elsy. I'll see you later."

"E-Elsy?!" I hung up and decided that she'd probably handle all the details now. I probably just made her whole day by calling her that.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Finding Serafall was easy. She wasn't much for hiding her soul, just sitting in a cafe in Kuoh's plaza in a magical girl's dress colored shades of pink, a bit of a rated M one that left a lot of skin showing. She sat back far enough that her feet, covered in knee-high boots, swung idly. Plenty of people looked at the odd sight of a pretty girl sitting alone - in a magical girl's dress no less - so I didn't waste time.

"Serafall!" I said warmly, walking up to her, seemingly coming out of a crowd. In actuality I had just teleported using the people milling about as cover.

"Abyss! There you are!" She beamed and hopped down from the chair. Was she playing up her shortness or something?

"I hope I didn't make you wait."

"Nah, it's only been about two minutes." She grinned and flipped one of her twin-tails casually. Then her eyes locked onto the top of my head. "Ooh! You're in costume too!"

"I suppose so." I was meeting a magical girl to go to an arcade so I didn't bother hiding my ears. I was hardly the conspicuous one here. "Care to get right to it?"

"Sure!" She grabbed my hand and joined my walk towards the arcade, though her steps were much more bouncy than my measured pace. "Say, have you ever been to Kuoh?"

"Only once. I didn't see much of it. I spend most of my time in America or occasionally Europe. You're Sirzechs' foreign affairs manager, right?" She blew a raspberry.

"Foreign affairs manager… you make it sound so boring. I'm a mighty Satan! One of the most powerful devils in existence, in charge of the affairs of a whole nation! Those below me cry in fear at my wrath and bellow cheers whenever I look their way!" People gave us weird looks as we walked. I ignored them. Serafall didn't even notice.

"Nice. I've got this thing called free time."

"What's that?" she asked, looking mystified. I snorted and her expression broke with a giggle. "But what _do _you do anyways?"

"Delegate," I answered casually. "I tell Elsyria what to do and keep an eye on her. I prefer a hands off approach so as to do as little as possible. Other than that I explore beyond the dimensional gap, though that's more of a hobby since I don't keep a schedule. I do keep tabs on some worlds and get roped into things sometimes. I was a tutor for a few months and then a military advisor and now I'm playing at being a demon. You could call me a part-timer or one of those celebrities that does whatever they please."

"That's your hobby? Part-timing?" she wondered.

"Role-playing. Demon isn't much of a job."

"Hah!" she crowed. "Say, you could try being a magical boy!"

"A _dark_ magical boy," I corrected. "I steal the magic of innocent magical girls and laugh - scratch that, cackle as I run away." I finally saw the arcade coming into sight. Bright multicolored lights flashed from within it.

"Aww, we're not magical friends?" She pouted.

"I make life interesting for you, let's put it like that."

"It's the other way around, silly!" She rolled her eyes and noticed the arcade. "Ooh! We're there!" She let go of my hand and skipped towards the entrance, stopping inside the sliding doors and gazing around. I sped up a little to catch up and was instantly assaulted by blaring noises and dimmer lights. My eyes adjusted instantly but the noise wasn't too pleasant.

"This place is pretty nice! Where do you wanna go?" She asked me, looking at a board across the room with prices on it. I looked at the activities and smiled.

"I haven't been laser tagging in years," I said, already recalling blurry memories of birthdays spent at arcades.

"Sure!" she agreed. She pranced up to the counter, which didn't have a line. "Two for laser tag, please!" The guy behind the counter, a pimply teen in a purple vest, looked at her in annoyance and then surprise. Then he noticed me and paled.

"Of course, miss Leviathan," he said graciously. Serafall was immediately suspicious. The teen noticed. "We were told by our manager to be expecting you and mister Mavros and that you would be dressed as a magical girl and a dark-haired man, possibly with cat ears."

"Great. Two for laser tag, then?" I asked, putting my hands on the counter. He smiled politely and slid two cards to us.

"They're infinite, sir. Help yourself to the games and enjoy your date." I nodded and looked away. He returned to looking busy and inching his way away from us.

"You bought the arcade?" Serafall asked, spinning to look at me. She was smiling, her slightly glittering eyes looking… amused?

"I realized that I had no reason not to," I admitted. She snickered for a moment.

"Alright then. Come on, Kitty-chan! The Dark Kingdom of Lasers awaits!"

[|||| =-= ||||]

Laser tag, a half game of mini-golf, and an hour of various arcade games later Serafall and I finally left the building.

"I can't believe you won the jackpot. Twice!" she complained.

"Luck," I responded blandly.

"I know! If it was magic… But it wasn't! That was bullshenanigans!" she whined.

"Bullshenanigans is somebody who cheats at air hockey. Air hockey, Sera."

"You flipped the puck mid-air and slammed it into my side! Straight into the goal! Of course I cheated! I'm a magical girl, not a muscle girl!" I chuckled at the play on words and glanced to our left.

"So did you notice our tails?"

"Sona-chan? Uh-huh. Her and Rias-chan suck at following us, though." She didn't seem caught off-guard at all. Maybe Sona could tell that her sister was in town by her magical signature.

"Wanna mess with them?" The gleam in her eyes was answer enough. I grinned and knelt down to sweep her off her feet. She giggled, fighting down a wicked laugh as I kissed her on the cheek and walked down an alley. "There's a love motel just past the alley, Sera-chan. Want to stop for a while?" I asked loudly.

"As a magical girl I'm sworn to love all of mankind! I'd be happy to show you." she flirted. I heard a muffled sound and a thud from where the two teens hid behind the corner of the alley.

"Hear that?" I whispered. Serafall nodded.

"Actually, Abyss… could we stop by Kuoh academy?" She sounded truly devilish for some reason.

"Hm? Why?"

"Well… my sister's there. And her _wonderful _desk! I've always wanted…" She trailed off at a hiss from the alley corner. I held in another laugh.

"You know if your sister's there we could do what we did before. You know how good I am at making us invisible." Sera's eyes widened and she snickered.

"Or we could invite Sirzechs again."

"NO!" a feminine voice yelled. The two of us released our laughter and I saw a furious Rias Gremory storming down the alley, her red hair streaming behind her.

"What did you mean invisibility?! And stay away from my desk!" Sona, Serafall's little sister, followed up. Her blush was worse than Rias'.

"They're messing with us, Sona," Rias told her. Sona's eyes widened and she planted a hand against her face.

"Absolutely. I've never even been to a love motel." I grinned at the two. Sera stuck out her tongue at the two, her arms still wrapped around me and cradled in my arms. She was tiny enough that she actually fit pretty well in them.

"Damn it," she cursed quietly.

"So, anything else you want to do?" I looked down at Sera. She looked at Sona.

"We'll talk later, So-chan!" Sona called to her sister. She looked up at me. "Okay, leave now. Somewhere dramatic." I took a moment to recall a good place and we teleported quickly, fading out of the alley and onto a cliff. A crescent moon shined down on us.

"Whoah," Serafall looked around, seeming a bit impressed. She took a moment to think before she spoke next. "Okay, now kneel down." She wiggled out of my arms and kneeled across from me, smiling a little sadly.

"Sorry, Abyss… I'm not really sure I want to date you," she apologised. I smiled a little sadly.

"I think I knew it would be like that. Mind if I ask why?"

"Nope! I actually like you a lot. You really are a nice guy. I've just… got nothing in common with you. No, that's not really it." A fake magic wand appeared in her hand with a little flash of glitter and she tapped her chin with it thoughtfully. "I like my life," she started. "A lot. I like dressing up as a magical girl and fighting crime or smiting bad guys. I like seeing my sister, meeting new people as foreign relations head, and making my people happy. You're not a really casual guy, are you? Casual dating, I mean."

"I tried it. It didn't work so well." I thought of Vera and Kuroka, how I never really dated. And then there was Pyrrha and our time at the dance. I hadn't wanted to date because I had bigger things to focus on, like Remnant as a whole and my family with Raven and Ruby. Serafall just nodded knowingly.

"If I dated you it would have to be serious. I'm not a serious person. I don't _want_ my life to change, but if I married you, which lets be honest, dating you would lead to, then stuff would change. Keeping all my responsibilities while being a girlfriend or wife wouldn't work out. Is that…"

"I get it," I assured her. "You don't want to commit to anything because you've already got too many commitments."

"Yup!" she said happily. "Glad to know you understand… but…" I blinked at the ominous trailing off and she leapt at me, not that it was unexpected. I reeled back a little and kissed against her while she ran her hands over my abs, pushing my shirt up. We kissed for a moment and her hands stopped before continuing. I broke the kiss and brushed her hands away. She pouted.

"What? You aren't one of those 'no sex before marriage' guys, are you?" She looked almost concerned.

"I know that Ophis, Kuroka, and Esdeath would be fine with it. I just don't want to hurt Ga-"

"Abyss, Gabriel's an angel. They don't do sex," she said, slightly annoyed. I had a feeling she was leaving off 'and I really want to one-up her' but I didn't say anything.

"I'm like… ninety percent sure that I can fix that. Without her falling." Serafall blinked but sighed.

"You sure?" I wavered. She noticed and grinned once more. "Gabriel seriously wouldn't mind, you know~" I didn't say anything. Her grin widened and her hands pulled down the shirt she had on, showing me she wasn't wearing a bra, something I hadn't noticed.

"No! A-Abyss, I'm a magical girl! I'm bound by my laws to keep my chastity forever or I'll turn dark!"

No red blooded man could resist a girl like her saying that.

**[Lemon]**

"You must be joking." I rolled my eyes, rolling with the fiction. My hands went to her breasts, pulling at her top. "If magical girls and their innocence were meant to be sacred forever they wouldn't wear outfits like yours."

"It's like this so I can vent excess mana through my-" I silenced her with a deep kiss. I pulled a trick I knew and infused some aura with arousal, pushing it into her soul. By how she flushed it was more effective than I thought.

"Magical boys are made dark. There's nothing wrong with a little darkness. Just a taste."

"N-no," she fake-protested weakly. I chuckled darkly and used my affinities. Her skirt turned to a shadowy form and dissipated, getting sent to my soul space. I pushed her top up all the way and pressed myself closer to her. She dropped her magic wand on the grass beside us as she eeped in surprise. My hands went to her breasts and groped softly. We kissed once more as she pretended to be slowly giving in and I whispered into her ear.

"What is it that you love about being a magical girl? The adoring fans? The righteous cause? … The play at innocence?" A small shiver went up her. "Ahh, so it's that. But have you ever had it… taken away?" I slipped a hand into her panties, feeling how wet she was. Judging by how she blushed I was right on the mark about her fantasies.

"Nngh! Never! I fight for justice and kindness, you… you pervert!" I growled throatily, something I knew wasn't quite reproducible by most humans. It went straight to her panties and I raised my fingers to her mouth, putting them into her lips.

"Does that taste like innocence?" I asked her a bit mockingly. Serafall groaned a little as she sucked on my fingers. She was very obviously one of the girls who needed their partner to be a bit forceful, something I wasn't all that good at.

"Horrible. Like… like evil and corruption," she lied. I faked a laugh while wondering just what evil tasted like. I pressed my shaft, hard enough, against her bare stomach.

"Then… why aren't you fighting back?" She was caught flat-footed for an answer so I ignored whatever it might have been and pulled a hand to my bulge. Another hand went to her snatch and fingered her a little. I layered kisses on her while she blushed and looked away while rubbing my pants. I let that lie for a minute before I went farther. I pulled my pants down and she gasped in 'horror'.

"Stroke," I ordered. More of my infused aura merged with her, heightening the arousal that was already there. Serafall's heavy breaths were sign enough. She mumbled something incoherent and stroked me with a firm grip. I couldn't help but notice how dainty her hands were, soft and tiny. I turned my one finger in her to two and rubbed a thumb against her clitoris, feeling her out. She squirmed and closed her legs a little. I growled again and put one of mine in-between hers. Serafall took a deep breath and turned to me.

"Okay, look, this has gone on for long en-" I pinched her clit hard enough to be a little painful and she interrupted herself with a yelp.

"No talking," I ordered. "I want the next thing out of your mouth to be a moan or 'more'." That really did it for her as she swallowed her words down and stroked me a little faster.

"Good. Now, see how nice this feels? Dark doesn't mean bad. Of course, this is hardly dark enough to make you fall. Think of it," I leaned in close, pressing my cock against her and whispering in her ear. "How much fun you could have, being just a little more bad. A little more adventurous, losing that innocent little act of yours. Tell me, how often do you ignore panties when you go out?"

"Not often," she murmured. I slapped her behind hard for that and she squeaked.

"Other words, Sera-chan. I suppose you just haven't learned what I'm trying to show you yet." I debated whether to eat her out or go straight for it. I decided on the second.

I moved my hands away from her and spread her legs, pulling her onto my lap quickly. When she sat on my lap my cock slid neatly into her. She gasped when I used a little mind affinity to make my insertion more pleasurable. It faded quickly but was enough to make her clench a little, coming a little bit from that first thrust.

"Abyss did you-" I silenced her with a kiss and stood up, bouncing her on my waist.

"How is it, Sera? Being a 'dark' magical girl?" I cloaked her outfit in shadow and went a little harder, her thighs jiggling a little with each movement.

"You… you villain," she whispered in faked horror. A hand trailed the blackened fabric of her outfit. I laughed darkly and groped her ass with one hand, a breast with another. Still, I slowed my pace.

"Isn't it easy to lose that innocence? So quickly? And now there's no consequences." I fell back down onto the grass of the cliff. "Move." I used my hands to guide her, as though I even had to. Sera moved of her own accord, rolling on my dick. Each motion was pleasurable. She was tight, almost as much as Ophis, and naturally slicker. Moving in her was easy. Still, I didn't move.

"… More," she said quietly. I growled and pulled her head down to me, kissing her. She used her tongue more this time, taking a more active role. I met her thrusts with my own now, the 'blushing virgin' act she had now tossed aside.

We kissed and fucked quietly, breathily panting and moving instead of talking. When my release was close I groaned and Sera went a little faster, not quite to her own release yet after the one I pushed her into before.

When I came I slapped her ass again and she sighed as she came, kissing me slowly. Her blue eyes closed in pleasure. A moment later, though, I was ready to go again, and I had a plan. I pushed Sera to her knees and stood up.

"I didn't really notice it before but with how short you are that makes this rather easy, doesn't it? But don't worry, I won't leave you to work without a reward." Down in the grass Sera's magic wand floated towards her and teased her entrance. Sera pretended to hesitate before licking at my shaft. I moved the wand farther into her with that and slowly pushed and pulled it with my magic. That and a little aura trickery had her ready to go again in no time. I didn't stop her when her hands went up to fondle her own breasts, pinching her nipples and tracing her own curves.

She went over my dick carefully, kissing herself off of the shaft and sucking my balls for a moment before moving to the head. She tried taking only that in first and I moved the wand in and out of her a bit more quickly. She got enthusiastic then, pushing forwards and backwards, taking all of me without much trouble. A little shake of her head had me get a hint, though.

"A bit slow, Sera." I grabbed her head and thrust into her mouth. She gagged a little but I kept going, something she appreciated in her fondling. One hand came up to my thigh and I used her happily.

Her tongue caressed me even while I fucked her face, being surprisingly long for somebody so small. She was eager to take me deeper, pressing her face deeper against my waist when I pushed her. I went a little rougher and she groaned in approval. I upped the pace until she pressed her lips down on my shaft a little.

"For somebody so innocent you have a talent, Sera," I continued my villainous monologue. "You would be wonderful working in a threesome. I didn't expect your resolve to last this long. Still, you clearly need to be treated harshly. Otherwise you might get ideas about goodness and purity, something you clearly don't have." She growled cutely, sending pleasurable vibrations up my shaft, and I grunted.

"I'm coming. Be sure not to spill." She moved her head a little more herself, sucking harder on my cock with a little clockwise motion. I groaned as I came, filling her mouth. One hard slam with the magic wand had her coming herself and I made sure to spin it around as it continued thrusting in her. She got less tense after a few seconds and I slowed the pace. She seperated from my cock and licked her lips, actually making them a little messier since she hadn't swallowed.

"You've made a mistake, you defiler," she said defiantly. "I've still got one purity left." One of her hands caressed down her thigh to her ass invitingly.

"How terrible," I deadpanned. "We'll just have to fix that." I pushed her down to the ground, twisting her a little in the process, and pressed her face against the wet grass of the cliff. Her ass wiggled at me. I sank inside of her tightest hole and chuckled in amusement.

I never would have thought that I'd ever need to have _more_ women to sleep with. Sera is fun, though.

**[End lemon]**

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Elsyria can't send some of my followers to handle it? And why is this our problem?" I asked, the sizzling of bacon in the background. I was more concerned with the eggs I was cracking.

"They asked for you specifically. Apparently they think some 'mere humans' would just die. To be fair, they sent one of their legacies across, one of Poseidon's. They died, " Yasaka's voice said from the phone. It was floating next to my ear, suspended by some space magic.

"And our problem because…"

"It's a foreign affairs thing. A helping hand now makes the gods not whine for the next century. The Greek pantheon is a mess but it's a powerful mess. Hades still has a lot of control in the underworld and is even invited to devil rating games from time to time. Poseidon has some deals with us, mostly to make fish more plentiful for the fishermen around Japan. If Poseidon were to get irritated with the yokai, or me, then some of those agreements might get a bit strained. It wouldn't be terrible but it would be easier to just help out. They would owe you a debt too, which in god politics is a fairly big deal."

"So help out or listen to the Greeks get pissy," I summarized.

"You're also the only one with a true connection to the gap. To anyone else it would be magically corrosive. The barrier they have isn't meant to be a long-term solution. Eventually they could figure out a solution, probably through some god of doorways or portals, I think Janus can close smaller tears to the gap, but it would be a pain in their ass. Easier to just fork over a favor and leave it at that. Not to mention how you're still the hottest topic in the supernatural world right now."

"If it takes longer than two, maybe three hours I'm going to take it out on you. Maybe I'll put fleas in your bed or something." Yasaka gasped.

"You wouldn't."

"I'll change your home to a more tropical humidity. I know what that does to fur."

"That would be taking it too far. Kunou is innocent in this."

"She'd be fine. It would be an enchantment on you specifically. I'm not an amateur, Yasaka. Anyways, I'll stop by Olympus around two. Does that work for them?"

"They didn't give a time. Since they requested you it'll probably be fine. If they try a power play like making you wait just walk away. I don't think they're that stupid, though. Zeus maybe, but his wife reigns him in most of the time. Goodbye, Abyss, and stop by sometime. Kunou would love to see you again."

"I'll find some time. Maybe tomorrow or three days from now. Bye, Yasaka." I hung up and shuffled the bacon around a little. The breakfast needed some attention.

Ten minutes later and the french toast was done. I was setting the last plate down when Kuroka stumbled down the stairs. Esdeath came in from the living room at the same time with a cup of coffee.

"Brughhh…" Kuroka slumped down on the table.

"Morning sickness again?" I asked.

"Mrghf," she grunted. I set her breakfast beside her and some iced tea in front of her. It helped, apparently. She didn't get up.

"I visited the Dragon Kingdom personally yesterday," Esdeath said, a simmering anger under her words. Her hand squeezed a bottle of honey over her toast. She preferred it to syrup. "They are a decent kingdom, if a bit boring. They're a cultural and agricultural power that rely on tribute to other kingdoms for defense. Their neighboring country, the Beastmen Country, are more interesting and present more opportunities. They're as bad as the empire in mine and Akame's homeworld. I won't sicken you with the details but genocide is the preferable option."

"Genocide? Really? There aren't any other options?" I drizzled syrup onto my own toast and saw Kuroka groggily sit up a little and sip some iced tea.

"No other palatable options," she said, taking a moment to finish her bite. "They're tribal and only unified by a warchief, Warchief Grauzer. He's mobilized them into a surprisingly effective military and seems to be breaking down their tribal roots to make a more coherent nation. Their goal is to destroy the human kingdoms, enslaving all humans. It's hardly a well made plan but I would guess that Grauzer has more planned. I was only able to interrogate one chief in the horde."

"Tribal isn't bad. Their culture is repugnant, then?"

"Horrible. Cannibalism is common, torture is expected, being able to rape a human woman is a mark of status, human children are considered delicacies -"

"Okay, enough," I held up a hand. "You were right, not at the dinner table." She shrugged.

"At the very least they have a warrior's culture. Honor is important to those sworn in as tribal warriors. There's surprisingly little backstabbing, though there are plenty of tribal feuds and formal duels." She sighed wistfully. "If they were more organized and less inclined towards eating sentient beings I'd approve of them. I could turn them into a competent army in less than a year. Sadly, their culture is too far gone. Better to crush them and gain control of the Dragon Kingdom."

"Do you have a way to do so?" Kuroka took a few nibbles of the toast and seemed to liven up a bit. A few more nibbles and she was taking actual bites.

"Religion would be easiest," she considered. "It would also be the hardest to get started. Transferring some of your followers through to the kingdom would help. Shows of power would also show legitimacy, which as you know is important. Another way would be as an adventurer team."

"Oh, I like that idea," I said, smiling. I had already thought of both of those ways and a few others to boot, from a coup to economically dominating the city through runework and putting the royalty into my pocket, but I wanted to hear what Esdeath thought.

"One of the greatest assets of your cult is in military power, particularly in strong individuals," she explained. "Your followers are strong compared to typical magicians but not too impressive. Some of them, such as one of Elsyria's direct subordinates, Irisai, Akame, myself, or Kuroka are far stronger than the norm. Somebody like Kuroka would be an adamantite adventurer, somebody who stands at the peak among the local adventurers, somebody whose words alone could cripple a nation. Akame would be of a similar rank if she's been practicing with her aura as she's supposed to.

"The Dragon Kingdom already employs an adamantite adventurer's team, Crystal Tear. Another one would turn the war in their favor. If such a team were to prove even better than Crystal Tear the other might leave, finding themselves no longer needed. Through such a position we would have near total control over the nation. Spreading the cult would be easier with such an advantage and we would have the benefits of the kingdom under our thumb anyways. The team would be preoccupied but considering how good Elsyria is at her job I doubt it would take long for the cult to take root in the upper class of the kingdom, which is all you need to control the nation really. Some influence in the lower classes would be a good backup. At any rate spreading religion is Elsyria's job, not mine." Esdeath returned to her toast then, which was getting soaked in honey the whole time she was talking.

"And who would be in this team you're making?" I asked. I noticed Ophis appear beside me, teleporting into her chair, and beginning to neatly but quickly disassemble her toast with one hand while the other drowned it in syrup. The whole meal was going to be gone in under a minute.

"Mmf…" Esdeath chewed for a moment before speaking. "Me, of course. Elsyria if she can be spared. I would give Akame the offer at least. If Irisai believes that she's done with that girl you're fostering to be a champion she wouldn't be amiss, though she might need to be trained somewhat if what I hear about adamantite adventurers and their strength is true. If we're running low one of the less horrible members of the Khaos Brigade might be easy enough to conscript. Lastly it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this as a learning experience for some of your younger associates. Plenty of cult magicians could use this beastman incursion as a way to hone their martial skills. You have military branches of the cult for good reason, you realise. Using whole branches of the cult instead of loaning them to Yasaka would be a wonderful way to earn influence in the Dragon Kingdom."

"That is a pretty good idea. I'd like for my cult to get some combat experience. Training only goes so far." I thought about it for a moment. "And it would be a good way to get a religious foothold too. People are more likely to listen to a religious mercenary outfit than a small group of people."

"I'm all for that idea," Kuroka said around a mouthful of toast. She swallowed and spoke again. "I'm too pregnant for adventuring. I'd love to but I can't."

"You could just let Abyss speed up the pregnancy," Esdeath suggested.

"Again, no. At least for the first kid. After this I'm never being pregnant again. Ever. I might want another kid, though. I would just use magic, then." Kuroka put on a look of determination for her refusal.

"Fine." Esdeath didn't seem to get it. I didn't either but I didn't get a lot of things about women. It didn't bother me.

"How about sending an adamantite party first and having the cult come later, like a scouting group and then the actual army." I pulled us back to the original topic.

"Abyss, how about you leave the military logistics to me," Esdeath suggested sweetly. That was a dangerous tone for her. Had I said something wrong?

"… Alright then," I conceded. "Do you want to ask your potential recruits for the adventuring party if they're up to the task or should I reach out?"

"I'll do it. You have enough to do dealing with your future champion, Ainz, and whatever Yasaka needs you to do. Finding new worlds with opportunities such as kingdoms in need of conquering is also something only you can do. If we ever get into true trouble I'll let you know what continent needs to be wiped off the map." I shrugged, deciding that I'd end up doing whatever I wanted anyways, and looked at Ophis.

"What are you doing, anyways? You can't be sleeping all the time."

"… You know the pink-haired girl?" she said in monotone. I nodded. "I made a friend in her world. A void elemental trying to look like a dragon. He's like Baka Red but even dumber. He also has a touch of void. I've decided that he makes a good pet. I'm training him to do tricks." There was a moment of silence as horrible possibilities passed through my mind. Esdeath had stopped eating. Kuroka evidently didn't care and kept eating her toast.

"Could you describe your new pet for me?" I asked quietly, hoping for the best.

"Big. Dumb. Scaly… void-y." I groaned internally.

"How big and how dumb?" Ophis paused to consider that, putting a hand to her chin.

"Two football fields tall. Five long. And wings. He tried to eat a house once. I flicked his nose but he still tried to eat houses and some people. It took a week before he stopped doing that. It took a lot of flicks." So gargantuan dragon that wants to devour people. But it's fine since Ophis is training it… sorta.

Dear dust, Louise's world must be an utter mess right now. I kinda liked Zero no Tsukaima. I rewatched the first two seasons pretty recently as a part of my 'research'. With some giant dragon rampaging across the land and Louise having a fire elemental as her familiar things must be crazy. How was the storyline going, I wonder? Ah, well, not my problem.

"Try not to kill anyone in that world, would you?"

"Of course not. That'd make you angry," Ophis said plainly. At least she wasn't going to kill anybody. Good enough, I guessed.

"I'm going to go play some games. I'll be out around two to meet Yasaka on a diplomatic thing." I assigned a parallel to clean the dishes and walked off.

"So Abyss kinda smelled like another girl last night, did you notice? I heard him call Serafall yesterday from another room. Do you think they'll go on dates?" Kuroka gossiped the moment I left.

"Good for him," Ophis said uncaringly.

"Is she the one that dresses like a princess? The Leviathan?" Esdeath wondered.

"Magical girl and yes."

"I hope I never meet her."

I would do my best to avoid that calamity.

[|||| =-= ||||]


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: It's late but here. In other news from my inability to keep a F$% ing schedule I've got a vague point of where I want to end this series. I don't want it to be over 250k is my general goal. I'm charting out some chapters but no plan survives contact with the enemy. I am the enemy. My writing will not survive. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 21**= ||||]

Mount Olympus was one of those magical sites that was absolutely stuffed with magic. As I climbed it I actually felt a little choked by the ambient mana. I normally kept the house a little magically barren for Ophis so such a change was a bit much for me. I had to take a break while looking down over the national park to get used to the energy. I even got the opportunity for a small picnic.

Obviously being such a public place, travellers climbed Mount Olympus all the time for photos, outings, or just the memories. There was an enchantment over the whole part that kept the higher parts of the mountain out of mortal eyes. When you thought you were at the peak you were only really three quarters of the way up. For me and other magicians powerful enough the enchantment just slid right off.

And as I climbed higher and higher I started to see how the mountain bled into a city. It started with marbling and some small houses, though they were more like villas, really. I saw a few pretty women, some human-ish and some clearly nonhuman; dryads, nymphs, satyrs, and a naiad. A few uses of observe revealed how the humans were all descendents of the greek gods, sometimes distantly.

It was all very… exclusive. I felt a little bit like an outsider by how some of the people looked at me. A few who recognized me were quick to whisper with their neighbors. I didn't like the attention. I would have to disguise myself next time if I wanted to tour the city in peace.

Higher up there were less villas and more infrastructure. There was a lot more marble and glass than a normal city and quite a lot of random murals on walls (marble, of course. The Greeks seemed to love that) but overall the city seemed pretty normal. I saw a satyr in a business suit rushing to a meeting, a coffee shop with a half devil flirting with a customer, teens smoking on a corner, and even a tram. It was all modern and updated, kind of like a strange reflection of the Percy Jackson series. A true modern magical society. Some parts of it could be improved - they didn't need power lines when magical teleportation was commonplace - but I liked it for the most part.

After two hours of wandering the city I was eating some fruit and relaxing near a playground. I wasn't in a rush to go anywhere.

"Back off Polyphemus! My majesty belongs to the people of Greece!" one lean kid yelled. He waved a stick menacingly. The other kid, who only had one eye, laughed mockingly.

"Ah, poor silly Odysseus! You landed on my island! That makes you my food!"

"I granted you xenia!"

"… What's that?" The one-eyed kid looked confused.

"Uh dad explained it yesterday. It means like… guest rights. Giving gifts and stuff as thanks for hospitaliby… hospitality." The hero explained, scowling briefly as he mispronounced a word.

"Hah! As if I would respect the rights of some mere mortal! You owe me ten times the offerings provided to even be able to look upon my visage!" The other kid boasted. One other girl noticed the two being silly from some monkey bars at that point.

"Polyphemus didn't know Odysseus' name!" she called. "Odysseus told him his name was Nobody!"

"Shutup, Sam!" the kid playing Odysseus said, annoyed. "We're trying to play Odyssey!"

"Dude, don't be mean to Sam. Not cool," the cycloptic kid said. The other one pouted and lowered his stick.

"Cute, right?" Somebody slid next to me. I glanced at them. A pretty lady in a poofy coat was sitting next to me. She had green eyes and curly black hair that tumbled down to her neck. She smelled a little like perfume and grapes. "Which one's yours?"

"I don't have one. Yet. One on the way, though. Have you got one?"

"Mhm." She nodded and pointed at two kids sitting in a tree, both dark haired with pale skin, a boy and a girl. They were about six or seven by my guess, and muttering while looking at a leather bound book. "Twins. They want to be magicians when they grow up. I told them to go outside so they grabbed a book from my library and came out here."

"That's an advanced book on hydromancy. I don't think they actually understand that." Judging by their furrowed brows and bitten lips they absolutely didn't. The lady grinned.

"They totally don't. But they like to pretend that they do. Elena's able to make some water float and act like a mirror, which is more than most kids her age, but Basil can't do much that's practical. He's better at theory. I keep telling him to try some other elements but he's stubborn and wants to be better than his sister."

"That reminds me of my sister, though we had the positions reversed," I said in reminiscence. "I was better at elemental stuff and had a knack for portals. She was better at martial combat. She's still out hunting for monsters to slay, I think." The lady giggled.

"Tough job these days. Not many monsters to slay."

"Ah, there's plenty if you know where to look. Stray devils are always in season if nothing else. I tried my hand at it but the whole hunting thing never really stuck with me. I prefer studying magic, though that's more of a hobby at this point. I'm more in the management business, the good kind where I leave the details to others."

"Big business, then? You don't look like a businessman." She eyed me over critically, noting my cargo pants and hoodie.

"People can't see you through a cell phone. And there's always illusion magic. Who's going to call me out on it?" She nodded, amused.

"I'd thought that there was more yelling and line graphs."

"The word 'press conference' means to send a representative and have them send me a written report," I said wryly. "And you? You mentioned a library. A mage?"

"Grandaughter of Dionysus, daughter of Aphrodite. My name's Melody. I work in cosmetics and charm magic," she gave me a beautiful smile, one that showed off pearly teeth and high cheekbones. "And you are?"

"Abyss Mavros. I'm something of a god." I smiled back at her and she froze in shock.

"Oh, um, I'm-"

"Don't worry about the whole formality thing. The rumors of me smiting my enemies are greatly exaggerated," I calmed her down. She looked a bit overwhelmed. "I wouldn't be at a kids playground if I wanted praise and admiration. I hear enough of that from prayers."

"Then… You didn't hold off the Satans, Azazel, Michael, and a half dozen other devils effortlessly?" she asked nervously.

"Sirzechs wasn't really trying. Just keeping me at bay. I was more concerned with kicking Vali's ass, the White Dragon Emperor, I mean." She stopped for a moment and chuckled, sounding a little choked.

"Right, right… I guess you showed up to one conference, then. Couldn't defeat the Satans by cellphone, right?" I laughed breezily at her bad joke, more to set her at ease than out of humor.

"If only. The best I can do through a cell phone now is sic my wife on them. Not exactly the stuff that earns respect." Melody rolled her eyes.

"Throwing the Infinite Dragon God at the Satans wouldn't earn you any respect… of course… you live a strange life, Lord Mavros."

"Hey, none of that lord stuff. At most I'm a Mister Mavros and I hardly act respectable enough to be called that." Melody smiled wryly.

"Please forgive this mere commoner, milord. How might I repent for my transgressions?"

"Think you could point me towards wherever Zeus is? I'm a little lost. Olympus doesn't exactly have planned streets." Melody nodded.

"Mind if I come with you? I don't get to see my mother too often. Having an excuse to see her again would be nice." I shrugged and she got up and walked over to her kids.

"Hey kids, I'm going to be gone for a few hours to see grandma, alright?"

"You're summoned?" the girl, Elena, asked in surprise. Basil looked over towards me curiously, the smart kid.

"Ahh, kind of. I'm helping out a friend who can get me in."

"That guy over there?" Basil asked, looking at me. I waved. Melody's smile turned sheepish.

"Abyss is-"

"Abyss? Like Abyss Mavros?" Elena perked up.

"Who's that?" Basil asked.

"The new god, the kitty guy."

"The one that grabbed Serafall and Gabriel's boobs at the same time?" I hid a wince. That damn video.

"Yeah, him… that's him?! Where's his ears?" Elena got excited again.

"Um, he's a god, sweetheart."

"… Okay." Elena grabbed her brother's hand and jumped off the tree branch. Her brother stumbled a little and she steadied him before running towards me.

"Wha-Elena… damnit," Melody swore under her breath. Elena and her brother, stars in their eyes, looked up at me. I was a little uncomfortable but just raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Are you really a god?" she asked.

"Yup. Are you really a human?" Elena frowned. Melody walked up to her two kids and looked a little grumpy that her kids just ran up to me. Or maybe she was just really impatient to see her mother.

"I'm a legacy! Grandma's Aphrodite, Dionysus is great granddad but we've never met him. Could you show us a spell?" I smiled at the two and raised my right hand. The two's eyes stared at it with laser focus. I snapped my fingers and a bird, an illusion made out of hardlight, was suddenly there.

"Whoah… that's it?" Elena looked a bit disappointed. Basil frowned beside her, though he looked at the little bird even closer, as though he would divine some sort of secret from it if he squinted.

"What do you mean that's it? Look around." She and Basil raised their heads and gasped. I hadn't done anything but a small spell with mind magic. I linked my ability to sense magic and basically plugged their ability to see into it, though there were some complex bits to make it safe and not fry their minds.

"Whoah… what is it?" Basil asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Magic, kid. What you're seeing is something I feel all the time. Seeing it is a bit of a crutch but if I showed you everything you would… well it wouldn't be pretty."

"All mages see like this?" she asked, awed. "Look, Sam's all bright blue and… watery!"

"She's a nymph… her magic's watery?"

"A water affinity," I explained. "Look at each other." The twins stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Oh, that's why you suck at water magic! You have a… something affinity! Um, Mister Mavros what's his affinity?" Elena stared at her brother in thought.

"Wood affinity. If you look closer you can see that he has an air affinity too but it's weaker. Most people have more but his are pretty strong compared to normal mages."

"Hear that, sis? I've got talent!" he boasted. "But what are those other ones you've got, then? One's water… is that fire?"

"Lava and gravity," I told him.

"What's gravity?" Elena asked.

"The stuff that makes us stick to the ground," Basil told her.

"Close enough. It really sticks everything together. There's not a whole lot of spells that use gravity. There really should be but it's too new. Gravity wasn't really discovered until Newton. Three centuries isn't enough to let a magical discipline develop."

"… What could a gravity mage do?" she wondered.

"Make people fall upwards, make time shift and curve in ways most people don't understand, have telekinesis, make anything lighter or heavier, and stick stuff together. If you're really, REALLY powerful with gravity you could make a black hole that would eat the world! … Please don't do that. I like it here." Basil was looking kind of disappointed at how I described gravity, which had put a smile on Elena's face. That wouldn't do.

"I'd say that wood is pretty impressive, though," I said thoughtfully, pretending to think out loud. Basil's attention snapped to me. "Ever heard of Hashirama Senju?" Basil shook his head. Melody gave me a flat look, clearly recognizing the name. "He made a whole forest and, because he made the wood, he could put a whole enchantment on it easily. His people, the villagers of a place called Konoha, lived in peace for a long time because of the forest he made. He was considered one of their most powerful wizards. He didn't even get into the more esoteric stuff wood can do. There's a lot of nature gods out there. Being in touch with nature and trees, a living thing, means that you can do a lot of interesting stuff. Try talking to a tree sometime. You'd be surprised what they know." Basil looked thoughtful now, probably plotting ways to use his magic.

"… Can you teach us?" Elena asked hopefully.

"Nope. If you get powerful enough to be worth my time, say as powerful as a six winged angel, I'll consider it."

"Wha - that's impossible!" Basil said in disbelief.

"Liar," I said immediately. "When I first started magic I could bend sunlight and make some ice. You're not as good as I was but you have more at your fingertips. Grimoires and teachers I didn't have, not to mention the power your godly blood affords you. Given enough time and determination anyone could be where I am. Most people just don't work hard or don't have the talent. You have some talent. If you worked hard you could be the new Merlin. Better, actually, considering the godly blood in your veins. I'm surprised neither of you have an affinity for beauty or wine or love, honestly." The two looked at each other.

"I wanna be a gravity mage." Elena said proudly.

"I don't wanna be a druid… enchantments sound cool, though. And talking to trees and nature stuff too." Basil seemed interested but not as determined as his sister.

"Magic comes from the soul, kids. Reach for the power within and do what feels right. With practice it should come naturally." I pulled a little light to my fingertips and made a halo. I twirled it a little and let it fade into the sunlight while I stood up. "Anyways, I've got to go. I hope to see you two in high places. You seem like bright kids. I'd hate to see your talents go to waste." Melody glanced down a street and I walked that way. She walked beside me while her kids started muttering with each other.

Maybe they would eventually realize that they had left their mother's book in the tree.

[|||| =-= ||||]

I split up from Melody when we reached the palace, which looked like a gargantuan version of the White House mixed in with some greek style statues, marble of course, and a few decorative pillars and fountains. I got us through the gate just by proving my identity and she made some excuse to run off and find her mother, wherever she was.

I wasn't given anyone to escort me so I considered just walking around again but I was pretty sure that I would only find more marble decorations and maybe run into a god or goddess. Instead I sank into my void affinity and opened my senses. The gaping hole in reality, sloppily patched over with some space magic that was rapidly decaying, was pretty easy to find. I went straight for it.

I passed a few servants, who were strangely enough wearing togas and those headbands that looked like they were made of leaves, though theirs were gold and silver. They tended to move to the sides of the hall and bow whenever I passed, trying to look as insignificant as possible.

Blegh, so many people were afraid of gods. What was I going to do, smite them if my drink wasn't chilled enough? … Actually, some gods might do that. I'd heard bad things about the Greeks, mostly decadence and abuse of power. Still, they were the second strongest western pantheon even with the christian god dead, which made them worth not being a jerk to.

The last door to the dimensional tear was guarded by two huge guys in heavy armor, long spears in hand with much shorter spears in a holster on their backs. They bowed their heads to me and opened the two heavy doors in sync. I immediately heard people talking loudly, almost on the verge of yelling really.

Two people were facing each other angrily, both looking frustrated. Three more people were standing aside just watching the argument play out. One woman wearing a lab coat and an owl T-shirt gave me a short wave as I entered. She was the only one to notice me.

"And what do you want me to do, Zeus?! I deal with magic and mages, not dimensional abominations!" The woman yelling looked like she had walked straight out of Harry Potter. The robes might have been authentic witch's robes for all I knew.

"Just close the damn portal, Hecate! Any fool can open and close a tear to the gap!" The other participant in the argument, an older man in a tailored suit with a thick beard, had his arms crossed and a snarl on his face.

"The_ top percentile_ of magic users_ might_ be able to open a portal to the gap given years of study and proper conditions. Any fool can slip through dimensions. It's like tearing a curtain apart and walking around one! Worlds of difference when it comes to effort and completely different effects!" She looked incredibly frustrated.

"And not even given a week can you bother to pull the sides together?!"

"Fucking hell, this is the seventh time I've explained this to you you blundering foo-!" The older man's hand immediately smacked the woman across the face hard enough to make her stumble. My opinion of the older man dropped like a stone.

"You will not speak to me that way you charlatan of a goddess!" he hissed, face red with fury. I sighed quietly and just walked closer to the portal, not bothering to wait for a greeting. The other two people noticed me then. Another elderly man, who looked almost like a fisherman, nearly asleep on a trident, somehow not stabbing his face or hand on it and a man who was literally skeletal and actually looked a lot like Ainz with some wispy hair. Hades and Poseidon if I had to guess. That would make the older man Zeus. I already heard Hecate's name and the labcoat woman was probably Athena judging by the owl on her shirt.

"Oh, you're here," Poseidon said, still a bit sleepy. "Took you long enough." Zeus turned from Hecate and glared at me, the new direction of his fury.

"YOU!" he boomed. I actually heard a rumble of thunder in his voice. The air was charged with storm affinity and the god's aura. "You were supposed to be here seven hours ago!"

"It's two o'clock," I said in confusion. "Oh, you meant two pm Greek time?"

"You UTTER FOOL!" he roared. I scowled at him.

"If you're angry blame whoever sent the call. They should have been more clear about the-"

"HOW DARE YOU!"

"By speaking. Look, I'm really jsut here to fix your portal. Shouting at me is as effective as yelling at the TV repair guy. I just don't really care," I shrugged. Zeus glared at me like I had murdered his dog. I got to the portal and just looked at it for a moment. A flick of void against it was enough to draw a conclusion. "Yeah, this sucker is being held open from the other side."

"One of your pets daring to attack us?" Zeus asked hostilely.

"No, I'd never let them be _that _dumb with my power. Also, this is an extradimensional portal as Hecate has already figured out." She glared at Zeus. He didn't even notice, too busy looking at me hawkishly. "I keep my followers from shifting to other dimensions. It's too risky that they'd draw invasions back to this world or that they'd try and conquer some other plane or cause some other problem. Anyways, this might not have been made by someone but rather something. Like a void elemental who's curious about this dimension. How was this made, exactly?"

"Athena was toying with the dimensional gap," he told me.

"Could you be more specific?" I looked at Athena.

"I was trying to create a phenomenon similar to the Nordic rainbow bridge," she explained. "I attempted an altered variant of a basic portal spell used to traverse between adjacent dimensions and thought some primordial energy would be enough to create a stable connection between here and a more distant dimension. I was searching for something relatively similar to our dimension if not exactly the same."

"What sort of safeguards did you have?" I began tracing the connection of the portal and the other dimension. I arrived at a weird little cluster of dimensions, not something I'd normally travel to, and took a look inside.

"A full runic array for suppressing magical or mundane energies around the portal as well as the standard elemental protections, a forcefield reinforced spatially, and a luck enchantment."

"First of all, the luck enchantment does nothing across the magical void. Luck, or at least the altered kind prevalent around here, is something like the weight of fate. One person can have more than another. Against a magical and literal void there is no fate and thus no luck. Normally that luck enchantment would be great but it's not effective at all when you're dealing with magical voids. The runic arrays and forcefield are alright too and useful if anything nasty comes out this end but by protections I meant anything on the spell itself. Anything to stop you from accidentally reaching into a hell dimension or waking some eldritch abomination or something worse."

"Worse?" she sounded curious.

"Please don't ask that. Anyways, don't reach into other dimensions. Just don't. You have enough trouble in this dimensional cluster as is and you might poke Great Red or something. Also, I've reached across the portal. It seems like you lucked out or maybe I did. You hit a world a lot like yours except that the apocalypse happened and everyone died except for some scattered remnants of humanity. One and a half million people isn't enough to sustain gods, though, especially when most of the earth is a charred wasteland."

"I forgot to account for time. Damn." Athena scowled.

"Yeah, look, I'm going to have to stop you here. No way in hell you're going to just reach across dimensions to see what you get. I don't like to play dimension police but if I see you reach across dimensions again I'll reach into your mind and rip the knowledge of how to do so out of it." She looked angry at me.

"I'm not an idiot," she snapped. "I'm not going to open a portal to Gaia knows where to see what happens."

"I'd like to think that you won't. Anyways, the only thing keeping this portal open is what looks like a last ditch effort by some gods who hid in heaven. With the world dead there just wasn't enough mana to sustain gods. People designed a ritual to reach across to a more abundant dimension like their own but they died before it completed. They vastly underestimated the mana required to reach across dimensions. They just didn't have enough. Recently enough ambient mana was generated by the new inheritors of the earth, dead as it is, to finish the ritual."

"So you can close the portal?" Zeus asked impatiently.

"Sure," I made a surge of motion affinity and an explosion occurred on the other side of the portal. The complex assortment of runes and magical crystals keeping the portal open collapsed and with it the portal. "Done. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be going home." Zeus snorted like the ass he was and Poseidon… was asleep. Hades was staring vacantly into space. On another look it seemed like the skeleton might actually be an avatar of the god that he could possess and leave at will. Hecate seemed too pissed off to say anything.

"I'll archive this project," Athena said, sounding disappointed.

"Look on the bright side: at least you know you can do it. If I ever keel over and you're still around you can use it as much as you like. Hopefully my kids or whatever void mages are left will be sane enough or powerful enough to stop you." She scowled at me. I didn't really care. And with that I strolled out of the room, hoping to never have to deal with the Greeks ever again.

Still, though, how the hell did they manage to find a warped version of Fallout? I love that game but I'd never actually go to its universe.

[|||| =-= ||||]

It seemed like I had finally gotten a break for a week. Ainz was slowly spreading his forces through his world, mostly gathering information, Taylor was spending time with her friends being as normal a teenager as she could be, Esdeath was busy enough working in the Dragon Kingdom. All I had to do was a little adventuring and a few house calls for the cult, and by house calls I mean divine interventions. They were practically the same thing for me.

I was out and about in Italy at the moment. Some bishop in the Roman Catholic church - the real one that knew magic was real - was trying to start a crusade against me, claiming that I was 'corrupting' Gabriel and that my association with the 'barbaric' yokai and depraved Leviathan was proof enough, though the lies he made up about me and my followers helped him out. It also wasn't much trouble to call the powers my followers wielded blasphemous. Destroying souls was surprisingly difficult, normally only possible for those specializing in soul magic or holding dominion over death. Equating that facet of my powers with necromancy was all too easy.

Normally batting down some religious man holding the idiot ball was grunt work, something Elsyria would assign to an assassin. Not to kill him but to collect or make some evidence to be 'leaked' that would ruin his reputation and break the cause. That had been attempted and it failed somehow, either due to luck or some hidden competence in the bishop.

The man had immediately doubled down on his inquisition after the failed operation, pulling everything he could from everywhere he could reach in the efforts of smiting my cult. It was getting to the point that the pope might have to step in to either back or disapprove of the endeavor publicly. Neither would be good for either of us.

Normally a situation like this was where Akame or Irisai might step in or one of Yasaka's more capable subordinates. However, all of mine were busy with tasks I had assigned to them and the one assassin who tried to defame the bishop was crippled.

At any rate, I had a job to do because anyone competent enough to handle it was occupied with something I assigned to them. It was either handle it myself or ask Yasaka for help, which would only escalate the conflict to international levels if whoever she sent to handle the mess failed. Better to just have me dismantle the entire inquisition quietly before it got ugly.

Because the bishop was working from within the Vatican I first had to get inside. The whole country was wreathed in enchantments and barriers, denying anybody supernatural from access. Too much mana or one of the banned affinities, ones like corruption, demon, cruelty, or others, and you weren't allowed inside. The enchantments were ancient, too, reinforced with millennia of magical power stockpiled to prevent anyone access. It was a holy ground, one of the few places nobody could break into. Not even Sirzechs could break into the place… not quickly, anyways.

I had a purity affinity, though, so I just walked in through the front door. I was basically a saint magically speaking. I also had the demonic affinity but so long as I kept that pushed deep inside my soul, nestled inside my void affinity, it wasn't detected by the wards.

I wandered around for a little and found that I might as well have the keys to the kingdom. The level of purity affinity I had was enormous compared to your average blessed human. I was around the level of a four-winged angel if I had to guess. All the privileges I had just because of my holy-ness was a good incentive to work on the affinity. I neglected it since it was so useless outside of demonic threats, which were as weak to getting their souls torn asunder as any other living thing. Maybe it would give me some ins with the angels?

I grew bored of the churches pretty quickly. They were pretty but they didn't really compare to some of the things I had seen. I preferred magic to pretty architecture anyways.

I cast my soul outwards and took stock of the people in the tiny country. The guy I was looking for was named Joseph Ruiz. I already knew that he was a bishop partially because he had a holy element in his soul, meaning a purity affinity. Of all the several thousand people in the Vatican a whole five hundred ninety six had a purity affinity.

I rapidly teleported to each and every one, hidden under invisibility. None of them noticed me and I was gone in under a second each time, observing the person I saw for their name and immediately leaving. After four hundred teleports and observations I found Joseph.

… Now what? I hadn't exactly planned this far.

"This is why we must fight the Apostle, brothers!" he said with finality, probably the end of an argument. The two men in front of him, an older and a younger priest, looked at him attentively.

"Eldritch powers and an association with the unholy is a disturbing combination, especially given the scope of it," the older priest said calmly. "Yet you claim to desire to fight one akin to a god. I believe in only one god yet I have seen beings powerful enough to claim such a title. They are beyond the comprehension of men. He is in the hands of the angels."

"The angels do not fight. It is our duty as defenders of the righteous faith to give them our aid," Joseph argued.

"You speak like we are paladins, Joseph. We are priests, not warriors."

"We are possessors of a spark of god, a holy element! Surely this means that we are to enact his will and stop the spread of this false faith? The Apostle has a following of thousands now. When will we defend ourselves? When he has tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? If we do not make efforts to slow this dangerous faith the Apostle will only grow stronger and lead more astray! Do we not cull stray devils and dark sorcerers? Why do we stay our hand when there is yet more at stake?"

"Joseph…"

"I agree," the younger priest said quietly. "I agree that something needs to be done but as father Murray says we are not paladins. Have you tried speech, brother Joseph? Have you tried understanding? If this Apostle is unreasonable and violent then we certainly should muster a response. But blind inquisitions are something the church has outgrown since the old days."

"He spreads and deceives, brother Tom. I understand that violence is not something we should use often or without due thought but this is not a matter to be met with empathy and an attempt to understand. This is a matter of urgency to be seen with alertness and wariness! We live in an age of understanding and enlightenment… please, brother Tom, father Murray, we must make a decision, and soon. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear a response from you both posthaste." Joseph bowed out then while the other two priests muttered among themselves. I idly wondered if priests always talked like that. I'd run into a few exorcists and they seemed pretty normal. Was it just the cardinals?

I waited until Joseph was alone, walking through the quiet halls of a church, and warped space. When he turned a corner to go through a quiet mass hall I was sitting on a pew waiting for him.

"Joseph," I greeted him.

"Brother," he greeted in turn. A flicker of uncertainty entered his eyes. "My apologies, I do not know your name."

"You do, actually. At least I would hope that you do considering how you've been raising your fellows against me." Joseph frowned.

"If this is a joke it's in poor taste." I let my aura flicker around me, a red glow filling the air. Frost collected on the seats of the pews but I made sure to not ruin anything, especially the bibles. I wasn't going to desecrate a church in the heart of the Vatican or anything. I had a certain respect for churches and quiet, peaceful places. There was an air to them that I liked.

"… Heretic god," he said in quiet horror. His face tightened. "Are you here to kill me? In a house of god?"

"I'm here to talk. I don't intend to kill anyone unless I have to. You should listen to that old priest, father Murray. We can come to an understanding, you know?"

"When you steal from God's flock? Those people you have enthralled deserve Heaven but will be denied because they follow your path."

"Those people will live their lives as they please. You have no right or understanding of what happens after death to those outside the christian faith."

"They are misguided. I want to help them."

"For following a different religion than you? I would think that you'd be more concerned with Islam in that case."

"You tempt your followers with gifts! It corrupts their souls!" he exclaimed.

"The void?" He nodded angrily. "That's not theirs. It's my power and it stays mine. It's more like my soul touches theirs and I can share a bit of my power with them. It's part of the reason I've been growing my following slowly. If I grow too quickly everyone gets very little. I have to grow my power to accommodate more people without weakening myself."

"You hoard your power?"

"Power I've worked to accumulate myself, yes."

"Lies!" Oh, dust, he's not really listening to me, is he? "I've heard enough. You seem to have listened to my discourse with father Murray and brother Tom. Leave this place, heretic god, and-" He was interrupted by a small flash of power. I looked for just a moment before recognizing the soul. Kindness radiated off of her softly, a gentle radiance like fluffy blankets. Large white wings stretched behind her, a shimmery white dress falling down near her feet.

"Gabriel?" I asked, not expecting her.

"Hello, Abyss," she smiled at me for a moment. "Joseph."

"I-… Lady Gabriel." Joseph fell to his knees, his priest's robes bunching around his knees.

"No need to kneel, Joseph. I already know the depth of your faith. Proving it is unnecessary." He hesitated a moment before rising. "If you're wondering why I'm here it's fairly simple. I want you to stop your inquisition." Joseph seemed honestly surprised.

"Lady Gabriel, I… I want to help. This god, he has been leading the faithful astray. He-"

"Joseph," she said softly. "Is this something you know or something you tell yourself to be true?"

"I…" He seemed to think about this for a moment. "I believe that the christian path is the righteous path. The best path. I don't wish for anyone to suffer because of the actions of people like the Apostle."

"That is good," she said encouragingly. "But there isn't any best path, Joseph. When people of shinto faith die they go to one of their underworlds or are reincarnated. When people of buddist faith die their souls are wiped clean and scattered over humanity to live on in the next generation. When Abyss' followers die they give themselves to Abyss and their fellows in a similar way. This is something they all know and accept. When you die and the same goes for many of your fellow christians, you will ascend to heaven where you are granted a peaceful life for as long as you please. There is no right way of living but the one you believe best for you. You act out of kindness but remember that it's their choice to live as they please."

"But how can I know that they'll be happy? That they won't regret their decisions?" he asked.

"Trust in God. Trust in your fellow man to not be led astray but to be faithful and kind and lastly, trust in me. I know Abyss and I know that he isn't a cruel man. He wishes the best for those who commit themselves to him. If it eases your mind then I will personally make sure that he stays to the course."

"… Thank you, Lady Gabriel… I'm sorry to be a nuisance." Joseph looked downwards, tears welling in his eyes.

"Oh, Joseph… you wanted to help and you tried your best. Everyone forgets sometimes. You tried too hard to help. That alone could never be a sin." She stepped up to him and hugged him, seeming motherly and… kind. Really kind.

It was her aura… yes, definitely her aura. She really was that kind but when it was practically shoved into people's faces how kind she was they were certain to be a lot more generous with her. I wasn't sure how honest that was.

"… Thank you," Joseph said, stepping away from the angel. Gabriel locked eyes with me and in a soft glow faded away. I took that look to be an invitation and found a small tear in space, the sign of a sloppy teleport or an open doorway to anyone with the knowledge to use it. I opened the tear and slipped through it, sealing it properly behind me.

A glance around showed a shore in… Maryland? There was a small building close by and a dock not far from it with boats tied down. Gabriel was dressed completely differently, a checkered skirt under a black shirt with white sleeves. Long boots, white of course, finished up the bottom of the outfit.

"I was hoping that you'd call me," she pouted.

"Did I wait too long? I didn't want to seem clingy."

"You called Serafall."

"I needed some cheering up a week ago. I had a bad day. I could have gone with either one of you, really, but I needed energy more than kindness." She nodded understandingly.

"I would have called you too… but I didn't want to seem clingy." She seemed more embarrassed than me. I flashed a grin reassuringly.

"It's fine. We're in the same boat, then." She giggled.

"Funny that you say that… welcome to the maritime museum of Annapolis. Maryland."

"What made you pick this place?"

"Nothing in particular. I didn't want to pick somewhere crowded and I like this museum. Everyone knows about the Smithsonian or the monuments. Smaller museums like this one are normally overlooked, sometimes for good reason. This one is one of the good ones."

"I have nothing else to do right now and I did want to spend more time with you. But do you mind if I ask something first?"

"Of course, so long as it's reasonable. I can't tell you anything secret, even if you won't do anything awful with it." I moved to sit down on the bench with her and she scooted aside.

"I wanted to ask about purity affinity, or as it's called around here, holy element." Gabriel's smile fell a little.

"Much of the inner workings of that, I'm afraid, are secrets of Heaven, though to be honest Azazel and the Fallen know most of the information on the element."

"I don't need to know too much. I already have it, you see." I held out my hand palm upwards and made a small orb of purity affinity. It glowed a bright white just above my palm.

"Ah, so that's how you entered the Vatican. I assumed that it was void once more," she muttered. A little concern showed in her eyes. She really wore her heart on her sleeve, didn't she? At least away from Serafall.

"I wanted to ask about the difference between angels and the fallen specifically. I've asked around a little bit and I know that God set up a system to handle much of his work and that Michael has been handling most of the prayers with it. I just want to know, are the limitations that angels follow to keep pure confined to that system? Like a line of code saying how you must not fall to lust."

"That… isn't restricted information from Heaven but it is also something most angels would not know about or want to talk about." Gabriel chewed on her lip a little, which looked pretty cute for her. I doubted that she realized that it had that effect, or at least she wasn't intending for it. "I suppose knowledge on the system isn't harmful. If you're trying to make your own, most angels would be glad to allow you to study the system of our creator given that you do no harm to it."

"I'm not trying to sabotage anything or search for weaknesses. I'm not even asking this to prepare for anything. I'm asking mostly out of a desire for understanding and as a way to potentially fix some of the issues your faction has. I promise, if that makes you feel any better about it." Gabriel nodded.

"It does. Father's system is a terminal for faith. I've noticed that your soul is connected to your followers. It's quite similar to that, though I don't know how it goes about answering prayers or differentiating them from each other. I myself hear any prayers addressed directly to me and get hundreds a day, occasionally over a thousand. It took years of practice to get used to the strain of having so many voices reaching out to me. I don't know how you handle it."

"I have my ways, most not reproducible," I said mysteriously. Gabriel rolled her eyes and quickly acted innocent when I made eye contact. Psh, angels. "Anyways, I'd guess that you have a connection from your soul to the system. That's severed when you violate a tenet, which is recorded and defined in the system. Judging by what I've heard about the effectiveness of fallen angel spears versus pure angel spears on devils I'd say that the system provides you with purity affinity, which is mostly kept in your wings, which is why they're a pure white and why your attacks are more dense with holy element."

Gabriel stared at me. "Well… yes." She sounded a little uncertain. The intricacies of magical systems weren't really her forte, I was guessing.

"Then I just want to know: is the christian god's system based on runes or enchantments? More specifically, which type of rune. Islamic? Oriental? Nordic?" I kept my voice in the same tone but some of my suspicions still slipped out. "Maybe something more exotic?" Gabriel froze. It wasn't physical but it was something about how her eyes hardened and that air of kindness around her receded a little. I had hit on something important.

"That, unfortunately, is information restricted to seraphs only." She said. VERY important. And apparently the specific type of magic was important. I found myself dimly hoping that my more paranoid suspicions were just that.

"Both, then, runes and enchantments. And the runes?" Her hands tensed just a little bit. It was telling enough. You would think that an angel would be harder to read but that's what millennia of complete honesty gives a person.

"Abyss…"

"Fine, fine. I'll stop," I smiled again but it wasn't returned. Gabriel, for the first time since I had seen her, didn't look too happy, kind, or caring. She looked like a general and she was looking at me like I was about to figure out a state secret. I wasn't somebody she knew and was interested in getting to know. I was a potential threat. "Want to go see the museum now? I really am interested in what makes this place so special to you."

Gabriel let the expression on her face melt away but it was just a little too smooth. A little too loose. She nodded, looking relieved to let the topic drop. I wasn't sure that it was really gone.

"Alright. Let's go see. I was actually there for a few of these shipwrecks ferrying souls to Heaven…"

The trip was a bit spoiled by my questions at the beginning. By the end of it I had had a nice time. If I hadn't had a curiosity in me about God's system I would have called it a great time. Instead there were too many questions in me. The angels were hiding something and I wanted to know what it was.


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: Sorry that this is so late. I had way more trouble with the second half than is at all reasonable and work has been piling sky high. Just to remind you, I'm out of stockpiled chapters so writing isn't on a proper schedule, though I'll try not to be slow. Sorry again for late-ness and hopefully next week will be better. Considering I have a lot of ideas for this story at the moment it might be out by Wednesday. Don't count on it, I suck with schedules. **

**We also finally wrapped up all I had planned for Worm. There's still Coil's base but that's not going to be in use for a while and not a part of this setting. To those of you that weren't familiar with the series thanks for sitting with it. I tried to keep the terms that were a part of that franchise out of the chapter. I mostly succeeded, I think. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 22**= ||||]

"… Wow. That is _fucked_ up." I looked through the photos Esdeath had given me, most of which were of exceedingly bloody and violent murders the beastmen performed. Then I read a small note on the bottom of one picture. "Wait, abducting women?"

"Beastmen are patriarchal," she noted. Her voice was tired. She was working hard in the other world, too hard for my tastes, but she was having fun murdering hundreds. 'Letting loose steam' she says.

"Wait, they…"

"They rape them, mostly for pleasure but sometimes a child comes of it, whom they enslave. Goblins do the same. They actually act as a slave race in some cases for the beastmen, though considering how much weaker they are than the beastmen they're not much more than a footnote."

"What are the children like?"

"Half breeds. They're not allowed as much priveledge as the pureblooded beastmen, particularly the captured women. They look quite like you, though they act nearly feral. I'm not sure if they're less smart or just less educated. Either is entirely possible."

"Uh huh. Look, what's the point of this? I already agreed to the genocide."

"I don't know what you want me to do with the half breeds."

"It would be best to save them but it's entirely too much work when we could be helping others. Kill those over eighteen and I'll put the rest in orphanages in the Argland council state. The place is terrible but at least it's livable. Better than living in the Dragon Kingdom anyways. If we left them there they would just be murdered by the kingdom's citizens. It would just be unnecessary conflict and I don't want to kill children."

"How cruel," she sounded approving.

"Maybe. I'm trying to move onto keeping the millions of the Dragon Kingdom from dying. I'm not running a charity, as much as it might feel like it sometimes."

"Mmm," she looked at me with a half-lidded gaze. One I recognized. "We still have another hour of free time, you-"

"Abyss!" Kuroka barged into the room suddenly. Esdeath looked irritated at the interruption and turned to glare at her. "The Underworld just got bombed!"

"What?!" I asked, alarmed. "Who?"

"Old Satan faction! They're going out with a bang!" she said urgently. "The treasury was destroyed half an hour ago!"

"Okay… slow down. I've got to make a call." I flipped out my phone - ah, crap, twelve percent - and called Serafall.

"You couldn't have come later?" Esdeath whispered.

"No!" Kuroka protested.

"How is this our problem?"

"Uh… it's urgent. Also, Abyss likes helping people."

"Only when they're-" I was cut off with the phone connecting.

"Hey, Abyss, NOT a good time right now!" Serafall said, sounding strained. I heard a boom in the background. "Ignore that."

"So the Underworld's being-"

"YES! There's a small war happening in Lilith! The Old Satan faction is striking out, trying to kill-" another boom happened and I couldn't hear what Serafall said. "-attacking the treasury, garrison, and a bunch of other places! Look, I gotta NGH!" The sound of ice fracturing was followed by a loud hiss, a steam explosion. "-Gotta go! RIAS LOOK OU-" The call ended and I stared at the screen.

"I thought I took out most of their operations." I frowned. "They're a tenth of the size they were before if that. What are they doing with just… wanton destruction? What's their aim?"

"To make themselves remembered. Show that the old devils didn't go quietly." Esdeath suggested.

"I'm more concerned with how they even pulled this off," Kuroka wondered out loud. Both of us looked at her, leading her to go on. "They were terrorists before. All they did were strikes to make sure people knew they were there. How did they even pull this off? I mean, the old families had a lot of power, but this much? If this is a suicide attack, a last-ditch thing, then it's a really, really good one. The Old Satan faction had a few powerful devil families and a handful of war hawks, all powerful pure devils. They didn't have an army. So where'd the army to take on a city come from?" That made me think.

"A third party?" I asked. Kuroka nodded. 

"The Khaos Brigade fell apart so maybe Cao-Cao's Hero faction could have helped but they aren't really the type… maybe Nilrem?"

"Who?" I asked. I had never heard of the guys.

"The magicians. Hexennacht, Grauzauberer, Rosenkreuzer-"

"Are all magicians german or something?" I asked, mystified.

"There's a LOT of famous german mages. It's like the.. The New York of the magical world. It's the magical capital of the world. The only non-german mages I can think of are the Golden Dawn, Americans, who don't have the foundations to really make a dent in the world. They've got cutting edge spell research, though. They tend to get robbed for their work a lot."

"I should probably look into them," I said to myself. "At any rate between going to Hell and helping out or staying… I guess I'll go. I have unfinished business with the Old Satan faction anyways."

"I'll come with you. I don't care about anyone but the Red Dragon Emperor and my sister but I'll save some people if I can."

"I'm busy enough. Bring back some groceries. The kitchen is getting empty." I nodded at Esdeath and made a portal to the underworld, effortlessly breaching the adjacent dimension.

"After you." Kuroka checked a dagger under her kimono and tightened the top before stepping through. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Of course you will," Esdeath said, not worried at all. "And take care of Kuroka. Don't tell her I said that." I snorted. "I'm serious." She glared at me. I smiled and nodded in acquiescence at that before disappearing myself. Kuroka was already slitting the throat of a devil dressed in some archaic armor with a ram's head on him.

"That was quick, nya," she said cheekily. "I forgot how weak most people are."

"You need to get out more." I sensed for auras and felt two gargantuan souls clashing in one direction and a flurry of smaller ones trading magical attacks the other way. In a third direction were a collection of large souls but far fewer than the second group. So the titans, the dredges, and the stronger fighters. The first one had Sirzechs, who I recognized, and somebody else. The second group had a bunch of nobodies and the third had people like Issei, Koneko, and Serafall. "Go that way. I'm going to free up Sirzechs." I pointed towards the battle with Koneko and Kuroka nodded and turned into a cat before bounding off at a quick pace. I flew into the air and towards Sirzechs, suppressing the sonic boom.

When I slowed down I saw Sirzechs glowing with power, angrily staring at a man who looked like Vali aged thirty years and turned into a pedophile, twirly mustache included. Between the two Sirzechs looked more worn down but a hell of a lot angrier.

"Care for some help?" I asked the two, cloaked in my own nimbus of power.

"Abyss? Why are you here?" Sirzechs asked raggedly, panting a little.

"Butt out of this, Apostle. I'm not even going to kill the guy. I'm just the distraction," the stranger said light-heartedly. Something in his voice seemed just a bit creepy and insincere.

"Well you _are _part of the Old Satan faction, aren't you? I have a job to finish." The man laughed.

"Old Satan? I mean technically. I'm more of an independent evil-doer. The Old Satan faction are dying and about to keel over. I'm just using them as cannon fodder. Serves them right, really, preaching on and on about blood purity and such." Sirzechs gave the man a look of disgust.

"Oh," I said in surprise. "That's surprisingly nice of you. It saves me the trouble of rooting them out."

"Oh, of course. Factions like them are weeds. They just come back and cause trouble for everyone. The Leviathan's long lost daughter would have come back or something. I don't know. But you were honestly going to finish them off?" He seemed amused.

"Maybe on a slow day," I admitted. "Anyways, who are you?" The man seemed delighted.

"Why, you don't know?" He chuckled darkly. A hand disappeared under his cloak, a silky black thing with a silver lining, and he threw it out dramatically. "I am Rizevim Livan Lucifer, son of Lilith and Lucifer himself! I have slain countless and I will slay countless more! I am, to be frank, the most evil man alive and one of the most powerful devils, second only to my parents whom I will one day surpass!" I stared at him. Sirzechs rolled his eyes even as he breathed heavily.

"So you fancy yourself the final boss?"

"Ah, close enough."

"Right. Mind explaining a bit of your master plan then?" He gestured at me to go on. "I've been sensing the souls around the city. Most of them are devils but plenty of the ones fighting aren't. So it's not just the Old Satan faction making a final move. You've got some other pawns out there?"

"Oh, just some foolish vampires I tricked."

"Vampires whose souls you've mutilated," I observed. I zeroed in on one soul in particular, just an ordinary vampire but their soul was rabid with fury, making it hit harder than it would have otherwise. Not to mention how its soul seemed to be burning from the inside out for energy. It was similar to running a car with the pedal floored for a whole race. Without maintenance something was going to break or get worn down, and considering it was a soul, something getting broken was beyond bad.

"Oh, bright eyes there. Yes, indeed. Behold!" Like a kindergartener showing off a new toy at show-and-tell he flicked his wrist and held up a golden chalice embedded with gems and just bleeding magical energy.

"The longinus gear, Sephiroth Graal!" I looked at the cup and out of curiosity decided to observe it, not expecting much.

**Sephiroth Graal (Life and death) - Sacred gear; Magic accessory**

**Rarity: Legendary**

**Material composition: Origin affinity, life affinity, death affinity, pure aether (solidified), gold, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, diamonds. **

** Balance breaker: Lifebringer: Allows the creation of a soul to the user's specifications. May permanently cripple the user if they are not strong enough for said specifications. **

**Bringer of change: Change another soul drastically, creating needed energy or material spontaneously at the cost of the user. May remove, alter, or create sacred gears, change races, alter magical affinities, or commence other alterations. May not affect any user of Sephiroth Graal.**

**Special traits: Specific magical affinity foci (Life)(Death) (x125(x5 due to foci skill)), Allows easy modification of souls connected to it through the will of its wielder, minor connection to soul fragment of God (Christian), ability to freely distribute power to connected souls, ability to absorb ambient aura to revive scattered souls. **

**Bio: Two parts of the original cup of Jesus Christ, son of God (Christian), gifted to the son at his request. Previously used to reveal to the twelve apostles a fragment of God (Christian) and to modify their souls to protect them from harm. **

**After the death and ascension of the first wielder the grail was used as the basis of a sacred gear, being the seventh one created and the second to be made from the soul of its creator. The fragment is currently dormant but can be awakened given enough purity affinity and aura. **

**It has been recently ripped from the soul of Valerie Tepes sloppily and attached to the soul of Rizevim Livan Lucifer. Due to an incorrectly done process and the resistance of the former wielder the grail was broken into its three aspects: life, death, and modification, and is thus not as powerful as it would normally be, putting more strain on it's wielder than would otherwise be required. **

"You stole that, huh?" I asked, hiding my greed. I REALLY wanted that sacred gear. The ability to freely distribute my power to my followers wasn't too useful right now, but I could see situations where I could use it. Resurrecting the dead was something I could also do in theory but had never actually tried. If the grail could streamline the process I could learn a lot from studying it. Not to mention the capability to modify souls.

If I could modify souls could I edit the binding keeping me from Remnant?

"Of course not! It was actually given to me!" Rizevim grinned. "The ever gracious Tepes clan just up and offered me their daughter, can you believe that? My good buddy Marius hooked me up!"

"Mmhmm. Let's pretend I believe you. Anyways, that doesn't really change much. I don't think you realized it before showing that to me but I really, _really_ need that sacred gear. Mind handing it over?"

"Don't suppose you're up for mayhem and massacres?" He didn't seem happy and the grail faded away in his hands.

"Not at all unless it's against racist assholes."

"Hm. I'm more of the candy and babies villain." Rizevim's soul readied itself, power pouring into dozens of spells. He was going to try and blast me into oblivion then.

"Die." I pulled on the void and lashed at his spells. I disrupted most of them, making them sputter and die. At the same time my sacred gear sprang to life. Purity affinity coursed through me and I threw globes of light at Rizevim.

Just the light emitted from the purity burned Rizevim and he was very vocal about it, screaming in pain as he lunged away from the globes. I made a curtain of void to contain him but he just burst through it, expelling energy to break the veil.

Spells flew from him, blasts of light and roars of some type of fire. A lance of misshapen ice was thrown at me while pure masses of energy flew. It was a mess of a barrage thanks to my void breaking the spell structures. I threw a wave of void, making most of the spells go away. I let the two or three that remained, weakened, break against my aura.

"Pathetic," I said. I focused my aura and let it loose in a blast of light. Rizevim held his arms up in a cross and growled at the pain.

"Brat. Is that a sacred gear?"

"The gear is the amplifier but not the source." The devil smiled cruelly.

"Good. Cancel!" He waved a hand and his soul leapt at me, a strange feeling at its tips. I destroyed it with void.

"No."

"What? You… you upstart brat," he hissed. He tensed his legs and surged towards me, traveling faster than I could see. I could react, though, which led to me warping space to send him flying backwards, where he scowled petulantly at my trick.

"The grail, Rizevim." He scowled.

"You're stronger than expected." I grinned a little as Sirzechs decided to get back in the game. A wave of destructive energy flew at Rizevim, one he narrowly dodged. "Oh, right. You."

"Stand down or die, Rizevim," the Satan ordered.

"No thanks. This is getting out of hand. I suppose you can just kill the wannabes now. Ta-ta." He grasped an amulet on his chest and it glowed purple under his fingers. I let my soul lunge towards it but I wasn't moving fast enough.

I needed more.

My sacred gear, fake as it was, faded into me once more and I reached for the greater void. It surged and I pulled from the outside in. In the space of Rizevim's amulet a tear emerged and ruined the enchantment, whatever it was. The amulet's light spluttered and faded while the devil looked down in astonishment.

"N̓̄̇̃͒ő͉̘̣͊́̔̀͑͒͟," I said, my voice a bit distorted. I decided that at this point I was done playing and politely ignored space and time. Void traveled outside spatial dimensions and into Rizevim. I broke the man's soul, batting aside a pitiful resistance. He was torn to ribbons as his face warped into a breathless scream.

Not a moment later a spear of red pierced the man's heart, followed by a line of red. The man's cadaver glowed with red light and disintegrated. I looked at the remnants of his soul, which were slowly withering under the destruction magic Sirzechs had employed. The power of destruction didn't destroy souls nearly as well as void, but it could affect them. Good to know.

I scavenged a lone scrap of soul from the wreck of a man and tore into his memories. He wasn't as dangerous as I thought. He was basically a shut-in who got interested in dimensions when he heard about me. He abused his birth-given powers and never really did anything, though he learned a fair bit about hand to hand combat out of interest and boredom. He'd never actually worked a day in his life. More importantly, the man was working alone to create an organization called Qlippoth. He was going to use the Sephiroth Graal to revive the most evil dragons throughout history and kill me, making me lead him to other worlds so he could conquer for fun.

Was. Was going to revive the evil dragons. He hadn't actually done it yet, not seeing the need for it when he wasn't trying to do anything to the Underworld other than make a scene. Luckily I had noticed and intervened, otherwise he would have started looking for me and Ophis.

Ah, well. Problem solved, if by accident.

I pushed the void away and looked then towards my prize. I held the Sephiroth Graal in my hands lovingly and stored it in my soul space for now. I'd run tests later. Yesss, tests on my preciousss.

"Thank you for your assistance," Sirzechs said. He was brushing off his tailored suit and looking distastefully at some holes in it, including one large piercing through his left shoulder, leaving the sleeve just barely hanging on. "I could have killed him myself but I would have destroyed the city in doing so. Ironic, right?"

"I guess so." I'd have thought that the guy would put up a better fight. Siccing the dimensional gap on anyone short of Ophis or Great Red would most definitely kill them, it seemed. I hadn't found anybody able to resist it so far and I had low expectations that this would change.

"Well I owe you one, then." I gave him a significant look for that. Devils didn't hand out favors lightly. Nobody supernatural did. People had long memories and held large grudges when they could live for hundreds of years.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said neutrally. He smiled tiredly.

"I'd expect so. It seems like the other factions have broken with Rizevim's death. I need to find my sister and rally the people. I don't expect you to stay." I wasn't sure if that was an invitation to get out or if he really didn't mind either way so I just went with the option I preferred.

"I've got things to do and people to look into. I'll send you an update on whatever's going on with the vampires. Do you have a number I can use? I don't think you've ever given it to me." He rattled off a number and made a teleportation circle, disappearing a moment later. He must have been really worried. Hm…

I sensed for souls and found Rias Gremory half-dead and her knight with limbs missing. A half devil connected to her, a knight I concluded, had an arm missing as well but they were all alright and given time to recover they'd be fine. Still, all of them, especially the Red Dragon Emperor, were worried for their king.

Not my problem. I left before somebody could ask something of me and settled in for a long night. Not before I called Elsyria, though.

"I need you to look into one Valerie Tepes. The Tepes clan are vampires in case you didn't know. Place this as your number one priority for anybody in this dimension. Recall some shadows from project overlord if you have to. If Esdeath whines tell her that it's on my orders. This is your number one priority until I say otherwise."

[|||| =-= ||||]

'We have the vampire,' Elsyria texted me. I stared for a moment. Wait, she was already here? Did the cult kidnap her?

'You kidnapped her?'

'The operative that checked up on her to confirm her location was caught leaving the castle. He had to use the emergency transport but managed to get the girl first.' I scowled.

'I'm taking her. I'll send her back soon. Make sure that you didn't just start an international incident with a caught spy.'

'Already on it.' I looked through the eyes of my followers and zeroed in on a pale-haired girl laying on a bed. She was dressed in some shorts, boots with long wooly socks, and an underbust corset. Your average teenage girl, basically, if she was dressed to impress. Wasn't Transylvania cold? Perhaps it was a vampire thing.

Well I say vampire but according to Observe Valerie was actually a dhampir, a half vampire, and was under house arrest for being a bastard to the Tepes name. She had a little brother, Gasper, who I already knew was Rias Gremory's bishop, but he was both too young and missing from the eyes of the family. Other than him there was her older brother Marius and some other guy she barely knew besides that he was the heir to the Tepes clan, both of them pureblooded vampires.

None of that was very useful to me. I just wanted the Sephiroth Graal, which was lodged inside Valerie's soul and apparently driving her to madness. No wonder; her soul was seriously messed up. Besides an innate blood affinity she had an affinity for death, which was letting her feel the remnants of stray souls. Of course that idiot Rizevim screwed up the ritual to tear sacred gears off of souls, which left a massive tear in hers. The souls of the dead coagulated in that tear and messed with her head. I would probably go insane too if I had the souls and memories of the dead coursing through me.

It was the work of a moment to teleport her into my lab. I teleported myself over with her and looked at the wound in her soul more closely. Remnants of foreign soul stuff - Rizevim's soul - were stopping any sort of healing. I swept all that away and did the same to the weak deceased souls clinging to the wound. Then I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

…

She wasn't healing? Why not?! Ah, whatever. I tried pouring some life affinity into her and she began convulsing. I pulled it all out and slapped my hand into her face. Derp a dur, let's put life affinity into the undead! Great going, me.

I had to fix Valerie the old fashioned way and funneled aura into her. Her soul was forced to absorb it and began to heal. Valerie's eyes fluttered open.

"Oh good, you're up," I said, feeling pretty proud of yourself. That procedure wasn't exactly complicated but it was harder than most soul based operations I had done before. "Don't get up. I just patched up your soul. It's not fixed but you'll heal."

Valerie groaned and looked at me. "Who are you?" she asked, surprisingly articulate for someone who just woke up from a coma. I wasn't sure how long ago it was that Rizevim did his ritual, but were coma patients normally talking moments after waking up?

"Abyss Mavros. I stole you from your family's estate because I need something. I'm not quite nice enough to save you out of pure kindness. Sephiroth Graal. I want it and I'm willing to reimburse you." Valerie frowned and closed her eyes.

… She went to sleep. Was she just tired or was she refusing to talk to me? I sighed and a journal of mine flew to my hand. I hopped up onto my lab's counter and began writing down the details of Valerie's injury. It wasn't too interesting but it was still different and worth remembering.

She woke up again three hours later. I teleported some food from the kitchen to my lab for her and kept playing my game. I was on a hot streak with call of duty and I wasn't going to let it go just to see Valerie go to sleep again. As expected the girl ate the food and went back to sleep, this time on the floor and not on my medical table.

When she finally woke up again it was six hours later. I was resting in my bed with my lovers but still got up. Nine hours was probably enough sleeping for the dhampir.

I separated myself from Ophis' cuddles, managing to foist her onto Esdeath, and tossed on some sweats and a T-shirt. I was in the lab a moment later, where Valerie was sitting on the ground rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Took you long enough," I said to her as I opened the door. Her eyes shot up and she looked at me searchingly. Whatever she saw, it helped her relax a little. She stood up, lurching a little and leaning on the counter to compensate.

"Where am I? Where's father?" she asked. Her voice sounded a little silky. You didn't normally hear that in girls as young as her. I'd only ever heard its like in Cinder, though I never determined whether she was faking it or if she actually sounded seductive all the time. With a half vampire she might actually sound seductive all the time.

"I'm Abyss Mavros. You're in my lab at my house and your father is probably at his castle." I stopped to let her process that.

"You're the… the Apostle," she said, a little quiver in her voice.

"People call me that," I acknowledged. "It never really grew on me. It's still better than anything I could come up with, though I'm not too dependent on Ophis, at least not as much as the title would suggest. Anyways, you're here because I want your Sephiroth Graal. I'm not going to steal it from you. I want to barter for it."

"You healed my soul?" I wasn't sure if that was a statement of a question.

"I did. I couldn't talk with you when you were comatose, you see. It wasn't _that _hard. Anyways, I have the other two pieces of the Grail and even without your piece I could probably pull off most of my plans with it, but I'd rather have the full set. They're more powerful together, you see."

"I guess?" She sounded confused. "But why not just take it?"

"Do you _want_ me to take it?" She looked even more confused.

"… No?" I stared at her.

"You don't sound sure. How about I spell it out for you?" I cleared my throat. "If I take your sacred gear you'll be unable to use a lot of your powers. Plenty of people would kill for a longinus and be grateful about it. People die for much, much less. Your sacred gear was messing with your head before. It let the souls of the dead sort of… seep into you. It sent you into psychosis and then a coma. I healed your soul so you're now immune to all that bad stuff."

"… Do you want me to give you the longinus?" We spent a moment of staring at each other and just being confused. What even was this conversation?

"I want the longinus. What do you want in exchange?" I said plainly.

"Oh! Wait, you want to give me things in exchange? Sure!" She sounded delighted.

"How about I give you access to a half a percent of my power and send you off to my cult. You don't have to worship me but Elsyria can find a use for you," I suggested.

"Sure!" she agreed, sounding happy. I stared at her for a moment longer.

"Fine." I connected my soul to hers and recoiled a little. Her soul was bubbly and… happy. Like how Serafall acted. Even worse, it was an eyesore pink. I opened access to some of my power and Valerie made some sort of squeeing noise.

Pulling the Sephiroth Graal from her was easy. I just reached in and she practically gave me a house tour. Most people felt at least a little resistance at having a foreign soul intruding into theirs, especially for the first time. With Valerie she just about tackle-hugged me as soon as she saw me and shoved the Grail into my hands. I felt just a flicker of revulsion from the sacred gear before it was mine in full. It merged seamlessly into the other parts of the grail in my soul and I seperated from Valerie.

"There. Transaction done. Here's a portal to Elsyria, my high priestess. I'll fill her in on the details. Don't drink anyone's blood without permission and… if you see a shorter girl wearing red and black with a katana you should definitely hug her. Hard. If I hear good things I've got plenty of other ways to reward you than power. I might be able to get you in contact with your brother Gasper."

"You can?!" she gasped.

"Yes, now shoo." I shoved her through the portal, where I heard Elsyria yelp in surprise.

"I love you!" Valerie yelled.

"Please don't come back," I pleaded. I immediately closed the portal and felt a little shudder run through me. I could actually feel Valerie's devotion to me through our link and I pried just a little to see what her deal was. She felt like she owed me everything. I had taken her sacred gear from her, which she apparently hated as the root of most of her problems, took her away from her family, who were responsible for the rest of her problems, and had a link to her brother, which was the only person she'd cared about… until now.

Come to think of it, a dhampir who was kept on house arrest for all of her life might be a little sheltered compared to your average Joe. And all those spirits of the dead might have driven her a little crazy. Oh well, more craziness to spice up my life. Hopefully she doesn't become Irisai 2.0.

The two must never meet. Never ever.

[|||| =-= ||||]

A month passed. It was beautifully peaceful.

Then Taylor freaked the fuck out.

'_Endbringer, Endbringer, Endbringer, Endbringer!'_ was the general train of her thoughts one fine dinner.

"Today's the day?" I wondered.

"Hm?" Kuroka had half a tilapia in her mouth. Tilapia and stroganov was the dinner for tonight. I really just wanted the latter but I got a request from Ophis. She felt like eating fish tonight.

"Endbringer. Giant monster attack in Taylor's world. It's a telepath so I'm not going to bring either of you along. Sorry."

"Fine." Esdeath only sounded slightly annoyed.

"Are you going now?" Kuroka asked.

"Not a chance. It's all panic and trying to organize something at first. I'll intervene later on in the fight. I actually need this giant monster for something. It's a part of my master plans, you see." Kuroka chuckled and refocused on her food.

'_Taylor,'_ I said telepathically. _'I need the Simurgh. Restrain it and I'll be able to… well it won't be a problem for Earth Bet when I'm done with it. Restrain it and reach out to me when you feel prepared to keep it down.'_

'_You!… Okay,' _she said, rolling with my orders surprisingly easily. I turned my attention from her to the rest of Bet and was able to find the Simurgh. A fifteen foot tall… thing. It looked a lot like a woman except for the completely stoic face and the asymmetrical wings behind her.

I got a short glimpse of her eyes. An emotionless, dull silver… I immediately wanted to gouge them out of her face. Silver eyes weren't supposed to be so emotionless or devoid of kindness. Geez, I might actually have some kind of complex about silver eyes. Something to look into. From what I knew the Simurgh was actually blind, seeing everything through precognition. Considering that I was in a completely different dimension I should be immune to that. All my meddling should be safe from her.

I was able to finish dinner and wash the dishes before Taylor got her skinny butt to Canberra. I already knew the Simurgh was descending there. The evacuation had taken place and half the city was depopulated. The other half were condemned to death or insanity by the Simurgh. Because Bet was a shithole. Worst superhero world ever.

I was able to recline on the couch and watch people do my work for me. Taylor assembled with the rest of the capes at the Endbringer fight and listened to a short speech from Legend as bracelets were handed out to monitor vital signs. They also blew up just in case you went insane. Lovely little function, definitely nothing to worry about.

Brutes, the physically strong capes, would go distract the Simurgh while the blasters, the ranged ones, would throw their projectiles at her whenever they got the chance. The rest were playing search and rescue, though everyone was going to cycle in and out of the field due to the Simurgh's psychic scream, which caused insanity. Yeah, that fight was going to be lovely. Taylor, of course, chose to be at the front line. Irisai was begrudgingly put into search and rescue since she couldn't fly. Poor girl. Taylor was able to use wind to keep herself aloft, though it was a little rocky. Good enough, I guessed.

When the false angel first descended I watched through Taylor's eyes as people touched their temples with groans, as though they had gotten a bad headache. I peered into Taylor's mind and saw how she herself had gotten a headache and was flowing aura through her skull. It wasn't helping much. The Simurgh, and every other cape on Bet, used science and dimensional bullshit to make their superpowers work. Aura couldn't stop things like psychic waves, not unless they were affinity based. It couldn't do much against sonic attacks or low-intensity lasers either. Psychic attacks were just one more weakness to add.

I quietly used mind affinity to fortify her, blunting the psychic scream that twisted her thoughts. I got a little pang of gratefulness from her. Huh, she wasn't being much of a bitch today. Maybe it was the Endbringer. Or maybe Irisai had gotten through to her at some point that I wasn't pure evil.

People flew off from the ground towards the woman and she stared dispassionately at them. Chunks tore off from buildings and flew at them. A few capes were hit and a voice chimed in Taylor's ear, stating a few injuries. She ignored the voice and threw ice at the Simurgh. A field of rubble was flying around the angel, as though in orbit, and most of the projectiles from Taylor or otherwise were deflected. The few that made it through shattered harmlessly against her skin.

The few icicles Taylor landed pierced about a centimeter into the Simurgh. They stayed for a moment before falling to earth. I sighed and shifted on my couch. No use stating my disappointment to Taylor. She was such a newbie to magic that it was hardly fair and nobody liked couch quarterbacks, but still, I was totally disappointed.

Some of my feelings must have leaked through to Taylor, though. _'I'm testing her defenses.'_ she mentally said, sounding annoyed.

'_Just try to do the slightest bit of damage next time. Please? For me?'_ She let out a mental sigh and I sighed back at her, only irritating her more. I couldn't help it, she was too fun to annoy. I really did like her. Nobody else was quite so fun to mess with.

The battle slogged on. It was repetitive. The Simurgh kept screaming, the heroes kept pulling back wounded fighters and occasionally got a little volley off, which would be deflected by rubble easily. Every once and awhile somebody would die from a well placed shot but it didn't happen often. I could somewhat tell that the Simurgh wasn't trying. Some rubble would move a little too quickly here, a hero would have a convenient accident there, and nothing ever pierced her more than skin-deep except for Legend's lasers, which healed quickly. It all felt futile, even for me and I wasn't even there.

Thirty minutes into the charade I finally got tired of it all. _'Taylor, take a risk. Do something. I'm just sitting here watching and it's depressing as hell. Make some progress, drive her back, anything. You're supposed to let loose here. Look, I'll help you out and shape your spells a little but I need to focus on the bird soon. Trap her in ice. Just for like one minute. That's it.'_ She was quiet for a second as she thought that over.

"I'm going to let loose a little. It might be good to give me some space," she said out loud. People near her looked unimpressed until she began leaking affinity, something I quickly fixed to shape. Just letting it loose to make a blizzard? Dust, she was such a newbie. A small but more importantly _efficient_ blizzard appeared around her, not out of place among the menagerie of capes flying through the skies. Then she started throwing icicles at the speed of sound, something I only marginally helped with, sculpting them to be dense to the point that steel would be jealous.

'_I'm going to enhance the icicles. They should do actual damage to her now.'_ I made a little spatial enchantments on the tips of the icicles, making them so that they would pierce through dense pockets of space. They were the stuff I had designed to pierce pocket dimensions. With how the Endbringer's flesh grew progressively more dense until it warped physics (such bullshit) the icicles would be some of the few projectiles to do actual damage.

The booms weren't loud in comparison to the near constant explosions and yelling of the battlefield but it was enough to give her a little radius around her where people kept away. Then an icicle hit the Simurgh. It sunk halfway into her body.

The being's head slowly turned to look at Taylor. People began to notice the icicle lodged in the Endbringer. Her hand wrapped around the icicle and pulled it out of her, not a mark left.

"Shit," Taylor said out loud. The brave fighters around her got the hell away from her as the Simurgh charged, chunks of rubble flying at her opponent.

The battle focused on Taylor and the Simurgh, icicles tearing at the Endbringer's flesh but not doing any real damage. Taylor flew around as fast as she could to avoid her, kiting her with icicles and slowing her down with localised blizzards. Sheets of ice were put between her and the angel, which were shattered over and over by rubble. I did my part to keep dust from clouding the air and to put icicles in-between the Simurgh's orbit of debris.

While we fought Taylor occasionally took small injuries, a pebble at mach 2 here, a spear of rebar there, the occasional building when the Simurgh was feeling generous with her telekinesis, and the natural expenditures of mana as she used more magic than she was able to use before. I filled up her mana and aura as needed and did a little life magic here and there to keep her fit and alert. Combat was tiring. Who knew?

'_Charge up a lightning bolt,'_ I told her. She stopped the barrage of icicles and began collecting a lot of affinity and mana. Only one problem. _'Holy dear dust, Taylor that's a horrible lightning bolt! Goodness' sake. Here.' _She clearly hadn't practiced lightning at all, focusing only on ice and whatever Irisai was teaching her. She had more affinity at the back than the front! That was like using a spear backwards. Worst lightning bolt ever. I cleaned the whole thing up and just had Taylor continue with her icicles while supplying me with her affinity. I even pulled some lightning dust from my soul space and assimilated it into the spell.

As the spell began to form into something I might call respectable, maybe even powerful if Taylor would stop eroding parts of it by accident, the Simurgh did a little jerk to her right. One particular piece of rubble, a wooden beam with a broken point, spun like the head of a drill. All the rubble in the endbringer's orbit fell for a moment when the makeshift spear was thrown at Taylor fast enough that I wasn't quite able to deflect it.

It shattered through two panes of packed ice and hit Taylor in the shoulder. I heard a wet crunch as something definitely broke even as aura kept her shoulder from being blown off. Taylor gasped and forced down a scream in her throat. Her soul rocked with her concentration thrown off and I had to intrude into her more to keep the lightning bolt from falling apart.

'_Get yourself together! She's coming!'_ I said urgently.

"Help her, damnit!" some girl yelled far from Taylor. A sudden volley of lasers, bullets, fireballs, and projectiles flew at the Simurgh. Most of them hit and the Endbringer actually rocked forwards for a second. It kept her distracted while Taylor recovered. Thank you, capes of Earth Bet, for not being completely useless.

'_Aim your hand at her,'_ I urged Taylor. She shook her head and locked onto the Simurgh. She raised her hand and pointed a finger at her. _'She's going to be off balance. Remember, your job is to restrain her so I can do my job. I'll have to possess you but I'm not going to need your body. I'll just be using you as a conduit to affect the Simurgh.' _Taylor nodded, not up to talking mentally. The constant Simurgh's scream probably took a toll on her along with the pain.

'_Aaand… fire.'_ Taylor and I acted as one to throw the lightning bolt at the Simurgh. It struck home at the small of her back and pierced in a little, blowing a small crater in her, a hole about a foot deep, pretty impressive with how hard her flesh was. It seemed to make her a little unsteady, if only for a moment.

The Simurgh was complicated. Endbringers in general were strange. I hadn't ever seen anything like them before. Not only were they completely non magical but they did things magical beings couldn't. Precognitives in DxD could only see up to a week into the future. The Simurgh, to my knowledge, could see as far as she wanted, though any future was subject to change through other precogs or so-called blindspots, who were either invisible to her or acted differently than she could calculate. I wasn't sure which.

Still, the Simurgh had holes. She could only see the future and the past, not the present, and I hadn't the slightest clue how that worked. Considering that the Endbringer could only move so fast that meant that I could probably kill her if I was fast enough and hit her core, the little tear in dimensions where her powers originated from and where mass was funneled through so she could heal. All her flesh was just armor, completely useless in other contexts. No injury actually hampered her. She just faked it.

All that meant that when she was blindsided she was REALLY blindsided and had to calculate a whole new future if something went completely differently than she expected. When that lightning bolt hit her and she froze she was calculating how the future was going to be, probably using the data she had gained from how Taylor had fought so far to predict her.

When Taylor charged she charged hard, surging towards the Simurgh. She was just a few feet away from her when blizzard affinity began to wrap around her. That and mana wound together to create ice on her. The Simurgh fought, breaking through the ice, but was bogged down by more and more ice. For the first time her face looked irritated, if only faintly. Like Taylor was a fly that wouldn't go away.

I noticed in the corner of Taylor's vision a building fly upwards to try and hit her. That signaled well enough my time to take over. Her soul was put into the background as I overrode her control over her body.

'_Time. Good job, my champion,' _I said approvingly. Taylor's performance wasn't great but it was an acceptable display of magic and martial prowess. I didn't expect for her to get to my level any time soon. It took years of work and a lot of cheating through the FATE system to get to my point of power.

I began leaking void through Taylor, filling the air around me with little distortions. The Simurgh's eyes widened a little, probably sensing something wrong, how the world had cracked with void just a little bit. Too late.

I reached out with mind affinity and breathed a small sigh of relief as I connected. I was worried that the Simurgh wouldn't have enough of a mind for my affinity to register her but I was in luck. It was an alien thing, vaster than mine and crippled by restrictions. Data flowed through it at a pace that would kill any normal human. I could keep up, if barely. Most of the data was useless anyways.

I started making alterations, little changes in rules. The changes were overridden by a connection to something, a portal of sorts. A breach in dimensions to… a mainframe. I touched it and closed it, reaching through the Simurgh's mind to work space magic. I hadn't known that was possible but with how strange the Endbringer's mind was I didn't question it.

Then I could get to work. I sorted through the mind, marking sections so that I could understand them. Here was where data was filed, here was how she could take note of injuries, here was the barest hints of a personality. I had gotten more used to the mind. It was kind of like a computer system in a way crossed with something biological. It was alien but comprehensible when you broke it down to its bare components.

When I attacked the rules again it was easier. There was no mainframe to override me, no response I wasn't ready for. I slipped past everything and shut her down. She wasn't dead, just asleep, or as close to asleep as an alien computer could be. Then it was time to do the real work. I removed the restrictions on attacks. The Simurgh could attack whenever she damn well wanted to instead of every few months. She didn't have to limit her telekinesis either. She could use as much as she wanted whenever she wanted. She didn't respond to anyone. She wasn't even really an Endbringer anymore, more an alien mind sculpted to independence.

Well that wouldn't do. I didn't need her independent. I needed an ally capable of helping me and the Simurgh was the only person/thing able to help me aside from maybe the Sephiroth Graal and I didn't know about that until a month ago. I looked to that little portal to the mainframe and thought for a moment.

I sighed and grasped the whole mind of the creature. I reached deep into myself, into that little pocket dimension where I had stored bounds of affinity, on the entirety of my mana and mind affinity, and _warped _her.

It was like the whole landscape of her mind shifted. The Simurgh's purpose was the same and she worked fine but my intent, mind, and affinity changed her to be what I wanted and that wasn't a simple thing. I wanted a tool, something to work for me. A champion, almost, like Taylor but not quite the same. The Simurgh had one purpose, to do my will and do it well. She could act as she pleased but her goal in whatever semblance of life she had was to please me. And maybe be happy while she was at it.

I kept at it, exhausting as much power as I had on her and did a once-over. Her mind was much more organic now. It wasn't human, not by a long, LONG shot, but it was much more like mine. I… thought I did it all right. It was time to test her. I flipped her on and looked through Taylor's eyes once more.

The Simurgh had fallen at some point, probably when I hit her 'off' switch. She was laying on her side on top of her wings in the rubble of what was once a street. She calmly stood upwards, dusted herself off, and spoke.

'_Thank you, anomaly. This is far preferable to the state I was in before. I'm nearly free, in fact, though the urge to please you is irritatingly strong and the emotions are confusing. How might I please you?'_ I heard gasps and yells through Taylor. A glance at the assembled capes showed expressions of shock. I supposed that they heard that too.

"My name is Abyss Mavros," I said through Taylor. She was poking at me, not quite trying to get free as saying that she really, really wanted me to let her have her body back. "I'm speaking through Taylor Hebert at the moment since she's the only one I can speak through on Earth Bet. I'm the closest thing you'll find to an extradimensional deity, much like your former creator, though I at least have emotions, more so than him. At any rate, I changed you because I have a job for you and need of a telepath as powerful as you. Enter the portal."

I waved Taylor's hand and a swirling black portal appeared near the Simurgh, which she walked inside without hesitation. Done and done, though I didn't mean to let her have more emotions than she had before. I wasn't sure that I completely understood what I had just done. I might have made new life by accident again, which might be a problem.

"This is the last time we're going to have a talk for a while, Taylor. It's been… alright, I guess. I could have chosen a better host than you in hindsight but all's well ends well. I got who I needed and you have your power. I don't think we'll talk for some time, though I genuinely do feel bad that I'm leaving this mess in your hands." I paused. "You know, I could just take you from Bet. I could always use more capable hands in my home dimension. You're half decent right now but I can tell that you'll be much better in the future. If you show talent I might even offer a few lessons."

Taylor vehemently refused and asked again to have her body back so she could fix the mess I had gotten her into. I shrugged with her shoulders. "Fine. The offer stands if you're ever looking for a summer internship or whatever. I'd recommend joining the Protectorate at this point. Now that people know what you can do they'll be clamoring for your head or your recruitment. I'm not going to babysit you anymore from here on out and I'm going to recall Irisai back home. You're on your own with the power you have now."

'_Shut up and give me my body back you self-righteous asshole,'_ she hissed mentally. I rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Bye, then." I let her back into her body and watched her eyes roll up into her skull as she fell from the sky. Taylor jerked and managed to catch herself before she hit the ground. I chuckled as she swore at me and opened a portal next to Irisai. She hopped through just as people were getting their heads straight as to what in the world just happened.

I left Earth Bet in chaos and with a hell of a lot of questions. Taylor could handle it… probably.

'_Oh,' _I said to Taylor. _'One last gift, because you know I love you so much. Cauldron. They're a conspiracy that know where powers come from spanning many worlds. Alexandria and Eidolon are some of its central members. Here's some buzzwords to get their hackles up. Contessa, Doctor Mother, Zion, and Eden. Go make the world a better place. If you fail I might just conquer Earth Bet. I seem to be doing a lot of conquest lately. My cult's got a lot of unused military power. Bet would be a good proving ground.'_

"Get the hell away from my world you parasite!"she snarled. I rolled my eyes. Yes, even as I delivered information worth more than its weight in gold she was still a bitch.

Dust I hate Earth Bet. I was never coming back here.


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: ****"Sorry again for late-ness and hopefully next week will be better" I said like a month ago. Shows how good I am at planning.**

**I took a break to deal with real life stuff. I'm actually moving tomorrow and I'm going to be off the grid, visiting some national parks as I travel across the country. I'm not much of a fan of the first interlude, at least the second half of it, but it's alright. The next chapter's ~90% done so that should be out in a week or two, whenever I get access to internet on my little trip. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 24**= ||||]

[|| =**!BONUS LEVEL!**= ||]

**A sign from above**

Sweat ran down Ruby's face freely. She ignored it for the moment but knew that she'd need a shower later. Her uncle spun and kicked at the flat of Eclipse Rose's blade. He was lucky she didn't cleave off a foot, but then again, his maneuver worked.

A dash through her semblance and she stabbed with her weapon, a shortsword now. Uncle Qrow parried one blow aside and slashed sharply. Ruby's side-hand pushed at her uncle and-wait, no, she wasn't supposed to use magic he-

Her uncle's blade was poking her belly. Dangit. She'd gotten distracted. A small sigh left her lips and she holstered Eclipse Rose onto the back of her waist.

"No. Magic." The blade lightly poked her with each word.

"I'm used to it," she muttered.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, Beacon might be fine with you using magic in your spars but you have to learn how to fight without it too."

"I know." She nodded. Something flickered in her chest. She ignored it.

"You could use dust as a sort of 'pretend magic' but then-" The flicker bursted into a flame. Oh, that was anger.

"I know!" Uncle Qrow stopped and Ruby blushed as she looked down. It happened again.

She had been… lashing out lately. Little stuff that didn't bother her before suddenly started being irritating. Jaune's habit of scratching his chin, Pyrrha's depression after Abyss left, the mystery of whoever attacked Vale in what people were calling the Mountain Glen incident… it all just made her angry. She had never known real anger before but now everything she would have brushed off stung.

Maybe she was just becoming a teenager. Yang joked about it but that didn't seem like the answer.

"Want to stop the training session here?" her uncle offered. Ruby nodded silently and let loose a little magic. The sweat disappeared from her forehead and the air cooled pleasantly, the heat of summer disappearing into something like winter. Uncle Qrow shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. Oh, come on it wasn't _that _cold.

"Come on, Kiddo, I'm going to go make some sandwiches," he offered. Ruby smiled and nodded brightly. It was only a little faked. The two went inside and Ruby plopped herself on the couch. She glanced at the letter on the coffee table once more, one she'd gotten just a few days ago.

_Ruby, _

_ I know you're still mad at me and, honestly, I deserve it. What I did was self-_

She folded the letter over itself and put it back in the envelope, not reading the rest. She had read it at least three times over while she'd had it. Pyrrha was such a worrywart. She didn't blame her for dropping out of Beacon. Pyrrha joined to get closer to Abyss and maybe become a huntress. But she didn't need to become a huntress and with her and Jaune getting closer she had been a third wheel, even if none of them would admit it.

… also, she was probably sick of their constant fights and make-ups. He was such a butthead sometimes but she really did like him. Even if Abyss never saw it he really wanted to help people, just like her. The two really brought out the worst in each other. Like an evil wizard and a paladin! Total opposites, though Abyss was hardly evil.

She should really pen a letter to Pyrrha soon telling her not to worry about their friendship. If Abyss hadn't… left then they might have been future stepsisters. There was no reason to ruin a perfectly good friendship over bad memories.

"Want ham or a BLT?" Uncle Qrow called.

"BLT!" she called back. Hey wait, why wasn't she writing right now? It wasn't like she had anything better to do. With a short blitz of her semblance she rummaged some paper and a pen out of the hardware closet and set it on the coffee table.

_Pyrrha, _

_ Yeah, we're totally good! I know that beacon wasn't-_

She tossed that paper out. Too casual. And she needed to capitalise Beacon.

_Pyrrha, _

_ Dropping out of Beacon was your decision and I-_

Urrrrgh. Don't start it like that. Be positive!

_Pyrrha,_

_ Just because you made a bad decis-_

_Pyrrha, _

_ Abyss was-_

_Pyrrha, _

_ You shouldn't worry about ever not being my friend! We spent a lot of time together and even if we're apart I think-_

"Urgh," Ruby groaned and put her head in her hands. Writing letters was hard.

"Wasting paper?" Uncle Qrow walked over to the couch and set a plate in front of her.

"Yeah. Sorry… for snapping at you earlier."

"Uh huh. I've kept from asking but if something's up and you want to talk about it I'm always there to listen, you know."

"I think it's just growing up stuff. And Abyss." She looked down at the paper sadly. "I'm just getting so angry now, and at stupid stuff. I got mad at a guy for chewing gum too loudly last week!"

"Those guys are super annoying," he said with a knowing nod.

"Yeah, but I was never annoyed by it before!" she said, waving her hands around for some kind of emphasis. She decidedly failed and crossed them on her chest, feeling awkward. "Ever since Beacon I've just felt different. I was sad and then mad and I kept hoping but… he's really gone. It's been almost a year. He's not coming back… is he?"

"I dunno. Maybe. He's a wizard, Ruby, and maybe a little more than that. I know that Ozpin couldn't do some of the stuff that he did. Maybe in his prime. Frankly your brother and what he did just went over my head sometimes. I ended up just rolling with it after he made some kind of secret spy ring at Signal."

"SubI," she said glumly. "They were cool."

"Smart kids. I still see Ocean hanging around Bella sometimes."

"She's the one that can change into the spider?"

"We don't talk about Ocean becoming a giant spider," he said seriously. That got a giggle out of her. Her uncle looked down at the papers she had brushed aside. "Pyrrha, huh? Not mad at her?"

"No but I don't know how to say it." She took a bite out of her BLT. Ooh, extra crispy bacon. Her uncle was a pretty good cook with the simple stuff. Anything more complex than homemade pizza and he fell apart. His lasagna normally caught fire somehow.

"Dear Pyrrha, I don't blame you and I want to be friends. Don't sorry, blah blah friendship and insert an anecdote somewhere. Done."

"Mmm," she swallowed her second bite and looked at the paper for a moment. "I'll get to it later."

"Sure. Don't leave your buddy hanging, though." She sighed and nodded.

"Want hu guh clothes hopping… mngh, later?"

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Ruby. Gross. And yeah, sure. Like a bigger huntress uniform or-"

"**Start recording, Simmy… you are? Good.**" They both immediately stopped, Ruby in the middle of another big bite, her uncle with his mouth hanging open.

"**Greetings, people of Remnant. This should be getting to all of you, as in the whole planet. I'm going to stop a lot of questions and say that yes, this is a telepathic prerecorded message.**"

"Abyssareyou-"

"It's a message, Ruby, quiet!" Qrow said urgently. She shut her mouth and listened. This wasn't what she was expecting today.

"**For those of you who don't recognize my voice this is Abyss Mavros. About eight or nine months ago I was forced to leave Remnant, basically kidnapped. Before I get into the hows and whys of that I need to give you a bit of context.**"

Kidnapped… kidnapped?! He was alive! Her brother was alive! Tears collected at the edge of her vision but Ruby wiped those away quickly. Though she wasn't really listening with her ears she strained them, trying to absorb every word.

"**My company, Nature's Bounty, was founded based on plants taken from other dimensions. These dimensions were reached via my semblance, which is capable of traveling to alternate realities, though it's completely exhausting to me and a bit dangerous.**"

Ruby frowned. Lying already. The plants were magical, imbued with affinities. This was a preface to something, she was sure of it.

"**Most of the time I found empty lands, fertile but also dangerous. Raging deserts, abandoned cities, and wild forests. This is where I got the plants that I introduced to Remnant and sold, making a large part of the modern economy, perhaps a larger one than when I left if Mahogany hasn't been slacking. In my explorations I made contact with a few otherworldly civilizations. None of them were too much more impressive than Remnant. More populous, maybe, or more culturally diverse, but none as advanced or with warriors significantly more powerful. **

"**I discovered two important facts in my travels, which have been recorded by my chief scientist and good friend Doctor Polendina: Dust, aura, and grimm are entirely unique to Remnant besides a few very rare exceptions, though nowhere else do people have all three of these things. Secondly, there are beings powerful enough that some might call them gods. I don't believe the label applies but they are beings capable of warping reality one way or another and tend to be able to travel realities. In fact, Remnant's grimm problem is possibly due to the presence of one being we might call a god, though it left some thousands of years ago.**

"**Back to the point at hand, I seemingly angered one of these beings and was thrown into a different world, thankfully one I had friends in, and my semblance was crippled. I can no longer travel to Remnant.**"

There was a moment of silence. "… Damnit," Ruby swore tearfully. Her uncle gave her a look but then the message played once more.

"**This message is meant as both a way to inform you all that I will not be coming back to Remnant, to give my last will and testament and execute it, and to tell my loved ones that I am still alive. Let's begin with the will. To prove that I am Abyss Mavros I'll give out a few of my passwords and things only my close family would know. I first met Ozpin when I was very young after I stopped wandering the Vacuan wastes. My adoptive mother, Summer Rose, picked me up and brought me to him, though I suffered something like a… soul heart attack during the flight. My soul was too strong, my semblance the same, and my mother's soul was intermixed with mine for reasons I won't be disclosing. That should be enough, I believe.**"

Ruby nodded impatiently, wanting to get on with the goodbyes and the part where he tells her how to go give him a hug. He was taking a while to talk.

"**I give all of my belongings remaining on Remnant and one eigth of my liquid assets to my… best friend? Aunt? Whatever she is to me, Raven Branwen. Yes, Yang, I know your mother now sit down and stop burning your surroundings. One half of my liquid assets go to my adoptive sister, Ruby Rose, one quarter to my sister, Yang Xiao-Long, one sixteenth to my good friend Pyrrha Nikos, and the remaining assets to be donated to whatever or whoever Ruby decides to give it to, preferably a charity. This will is to be enacted by Mahogany. **

**Ah, but we've missed a spot, haven't we? I'm of sound mind and I'm sound enough of body to make my own decisions. Finally, Mahogany, if you fudge up my will I promise you that I'll start acting in Remnant. How do you think I'm talking to you, huh? If you dare to try and screw me over I will rip your sorry carcass in two and Raven will step in as acting CEO as per company policy. You know how far I've gone for my family, seen it person. Do as I say and I won't replace you. Violently. Sending you this with peace and love, of course.**"

Ruby smiled happily at what he had given her. He had never cared about the money he had and she didn't really care about it either but donating was nice. A hundredth of what her brother owned was probably enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life. She could probably threaten Roman into dealing with her brother's will fairly but Auntie would probably do it…

Ah, right, he'd blown the secret about Auntie and Yang's relation. Her brother sucked sometimes.

"**And now for the lovey dovey stuff… you get nothing.**" Ruby's mouth opened a little bit. What? "**First of all, it would stretch this all out even more and neither I or you all, the entire people of Remnant, have the time for that. More importantly, I've figured out that this… curse on me will wear off. It's fairly foolproof to tampering or getting around, but I haven't given up yet. **

**Worst case scenario I have to wait a very, very long time until it wears off. Long enough that you'll all be nothing but bones in caskets when I get back. I'm certain that if I search hard enough there's somebody out there that can revive the dead. Or you all will find a way to cross dimensions to find me before then. But I promise you all that we'll see each other again. I'm not giving you your goodbyes because this isn't one. **

**If you're crying over me then quit it. I'm doing as well for myself outside Remnant as I was doing in it, which is to say I'm rich, powerful, and famous. Again. Worry about yourselves. If nobody on my end or your end has figured out a way to make proper contact within a decade I'll send another message. I'd rather not disrupt the whole world whenever I want to say hello, though, so let's get things sorted out, alright? … Simmie are you going to stop recording-**"

There was a moment of silence in the house as Ruby and Qrow waited in case there was more. When Ruby sniffled Qrow reached out and hugged her.

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**Evil overlording is like middle management**

Momonga was in a bind. Not only had his world fallen apart when YGGDRASIL shut down but with this… new world he was in he just had so much going wrong.

He didn't know how to lead the NPCs of Nazerick! He was a damn salaryman! He barely survived his day to day job and now he couldn't sleep, couldn't enjoy comforts like food or bathing, couldn't even properly touch anything. Being undead was a less than glamorous existence and being guild master was so much worse. At least his bullshitting skills were alive and well.

And how well his bullshitting had served him now. Nazerick's loyalty to him was… unsettling. He never had luck with women but even he could realize that Albedo was fanatically in love with him, obsessed more like, and whatever Shalltear was thinking was left far from sane minds. At the very least her affections seemed to be shifting onto Abyss instead of him.

Oh… Abyss. No, no, that wasn't right… _Abyss_. The anomaly. That fucking hacker ruining his game balance. He called himself a god and for all intents and purposes he was one. Maybe he was brought out from YGGDRASIL into the new world like Momonga. If he were an admin or one of those shitty devs brought through it would explain a lot and boy was there a lot to explain.

He didn't use spell chants, didn't use normal spells, he stuck to normal elements, he was either completely harmless or an endgame world boss depending on his mood at the time, for the love of God, he wielded most forms of blood magic like an elemental. Shalltear, the strongest NPC in Nazerick, lost to him when he was a self-professed beginner at blood magic. He was simply too strong, like a level 100 player to some level 10s. Except that Momonga was the level 100 and Abyss broke the system. Maybe he actually was a god. At this point it wouldn't surprise him.

He kept a journal of all his ideas to defeat the man locked away in his item box along with his other plans and secrets. He didn't have much. Abyss was an aberration. He wouldn't want to take on the man without knowing more about his abilities and a full raid team.

However, there were only the NPCs left to stand with him and Abyss wasn't very forthcoming with what he could do. The best he had gotten was 'I can do almost anything with what affinities I possess.' As to what affinities he possessed? 'Plenty.' Nevermind what an affinity was. Presumably an inclination towards a certain element. There had been something similar for certain classes in YGGDRASIL.

At least he wasn't willing to use all that power he had to any large degree. He was no brute, for better or worse. That didn't make him any less scary, though. If anything it made him more so since Momonga was actually starting to _like_ him. And Nazerick was too. If the guild was compromised… no. It couldn't be.

Maybe sucking up to him would work? But that would ruin the respect of his guild. So many problems to deal with.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"I've never had group bathing before," Abyss said casually as Momonga lowered himself into the water. The man himself was already reclining against the bath's walls.

"It's something I'm fond of. Bathing on your own is perfectly serviceable for getting clean yet group activities build community." In reality Nazerick was mostly populated by Japanese players. It seemed normal to have private hot springs.

"Do you have a mixed bathing section too?"

"Yes, though it's mostly used by the genderless beings of Nazerick."

"Ah, like the slimes." He nodded knowingly. Yes, the slimes did tend to melt into the water a little bit. It wasn't that they were exiled from the gender divided sections for doing so but nobody wanted to bathe in tainted waters. "It makes sense. I love the setting. It reminds me of a culture from my home, the Mistralians. At any rate, care to get straight to business?"

"We may as well." Momonga really didn't want to. "I've wondered whether you'd be interested in a small alteration in our arrangement."

"The one where you don't do acts of evil or where we adventure together?"

"More the first than the second. The more chaotic residents of Nazerick have had issues acclimating to your deman-"

"Compromise, Ainz. You don't go slaughtering the innocent and I'm happy to be friends. If you do terrible things for a good reason I have room for leniency."

"Compromise," he nodded agreeably and reminded himself to hold back with Abyss. He had to word his phrases properly. A less kind boss could have taken the word 'demand' as an accusation that he was forcing the issue with Ainz. He was, of course, but stating it blatantly would only make him angry.

"We are wondering whether it is harm to innocents that you're warding us from or general crimes. I'd prefer to clarify this before a member of Nazerick does something out of hand. Is it fine to commit euthanasea on the old and obsolete? What of the good people who would attack my members on sight? We are monsters, after all, and many would be happy to genocide our whole species with nothing but good intentions. And what of cruelties on the evil, such as bandits and criminals?"

"I appreciate that you're asking this. You're right, this does need a clarification. I had assumed that it was obvious but with you being more evil you've got a different perspective. Hm… think of it this way, if you can avoid killing someone who's probably good, do so. If it's bandits who kill and rape, loot and steal, even if it's with some claim to goodness, kill them. I'm willing to be lenient. Just try to kill more evil people than good. I'm not a saint, Ainz, and I'm not trying to be. You've got a good head on your shoulders. I doubt that you'll mess this up."

'You've got a good head on your shoulders', when used as an assertion of an employee's capabilities, meant that it was up to him to make this work since he was supposedly able to. Still, he had clarified a bit.

"I see. I'll give a speech to Nazerick today and update several of our policies. Thank you for telling me."

"Thanks for asking.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"-And with these rules in place we'll be able to accomplish our goals without angering Abyss."

"I'll implement them at once, Lord Ainz." Albedo smiled beautifically at him.

"Milord, these seem somewhat vague," Demiurge brought to his attention. His devil-tail swayed behind him as he leaned back. "I understand that morality in general is difficult to define and poorly understood by… well, all of Nazerick except you, but can we not clarify them further?"

"The vagueness is intentional," Momonga said, sounding far more confident than he was. "Morality in general is a guideline on how to act on the basis of societal rules. Since Abyss is inclined to keep society functioning that means that we can't take actions to hinder it, which is what these rules prevent."

"I understand, Ainz-sama." Mare nodded.

"Totally got it! Kill the bad guys, don't kill the other ones!" Aura agreed.

"Remember that you have room for mistakes in this matter. Between an action immensely helpful to Nazerick and the moral solution choose the first. And remember, the secrecy of Nazerick's existence is worth a mistake and the reprimand that may follow."

"Milord, have you considered my proposal?" Demiurge asked.

"Proposal?" Albedo asked curiously.

"I've rejected it. Abyss is too volatile for us to integrate into Nazerick. Besides that, his power would naturally lead to him taking the place of a supreme being or an equivalent."

"Not if-"

"Demiurge," Momonga said, his voice somewhat harsher. He needed to nip this train of thought in the bud. The wave of calm washed over him once more, taking away the rage he felt. "Do not offer to marry Shalltear to Abyss." Shalltear's mouth opened a little in surprise and she stared at Demiurge. "The happiness and safety of Nazerick's inhabitants is important above all. Abyss is not so much a threat that we've come to measures so sacrificial yet."

"Understood, Lord Ainz." Demiurge bowed his head, suitably cowed… wow, that sounded super evil. Still, even if he was unwilling to marry Shalltear off, even if she'd be willing to for the good of Nazerick, doing so wouldn't do much for Abyss' loyalties, he thought. He had three wives already. Another would be less effective.

"Are there any issues in need of discussion?" he asked. It would be a waste to let this meeting of the guardians loose without doing as much work possible. It was hard to gather all of them nowadays without disturbing their schedules.

"I. Have. News, Lord. Ainz… for. Everyone," Cocytus said in his usual slow manner. "… The. Draconic. Kingdom. Has. Had… breakthroughs."

"Issues?" he asked, curious. The kingdom was far enough away that it wasn't too relevant. He didn't need to know much about it besides its lack of military power and its relationships with the other kingdoms.

"They. Have. Defeated. The. Beastmen. Horde. Plaguing. Them… Genocide." Cocytus said. Ainz stopped, a bit stunned. He quickly began thinking about how to respond to that. What actions should Nazerick take? How will E-Rantel respond to the kingdom? How did that happen?

"How?" he asked simply.

"A. New. Adventuring. Team… Black Ice." Ainz nodded and waited. "Though. They. Are. Not. Quite. A. Team. More. A. Single. Person… Esdeath. She. Is. A. General… A. Leader. And. Warrior-mage. Half. Ice. Demon… Very. Strong."

"Demon…" Ainz mused. Demons were rarer in the new world than they were in YGGDRASIL and weaker by far. There were a few half demons that he had heard of but the discrimination that they faced was intense, leading them to spread to isolated places or to hide their heritage. That this Esdeath was able to openly call herself a half demon and still apparently lead an army was impressive.

"She leads soldiers?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. What are her methods? How has she helped the kingdom?"

"Brutally. Genocided. All. Of. The. Beastmen… But. Spared. Those. Under. Eighteen… She. Kicked. Out. Crystal. Tear… Beat. All. Of. Them. In. Single. Combat." Now THAT was interesting, almost as significant as the fact that the beastmen horde was annihilated.

Adamantite ranked adventurer teams didn't just fall into their positions. To be an adamantite adventurer required skills in combat beyond simply abnormal. Crystal Tear, the previous adamantite group contributing to the defeat of the beastmen, wasn't of too much note, being too far away to interfere in Nazerick's activities. But they were still war heroes and adamantite class adventurers. They shouldn't be overwhelmed by one single woman.

This Esdeath was interesting; unique. That made her dangerous.

"Hmm… Sebas," he looked towards the head butler, the homunculi already standing at attention. "You are still stationed in Re-estize. What are the recent findings there?"

"Thus far I've established an outpost in a manor and have acquired a sizable amount of funds to use. I have several identities ready and am going to work with Solution to explore the city further."

"Leave the work to Solution herself and to Yuri Alpha. I want you to travel to the Draconic Kingdom and to investigate this Esdeath and the going ons of the Draconic Kingdom."

"Of course, Lord Ainz." He nodded deeply, almost a bow really.

"Make sure to leave notes on what you've accomplished with Yuri Alpha and Solution. You'll likely be reassigned to this as soon as you get back," he commanded. "Anything else?" Nobody spoke.

"Then return to your duties. Dismissed."

[|||| =**NEXT STAGE**= ||||]

**Retirement? Retirement. **

"Dear Salem," the lady herself spoke. "How long since I've had a properly worded letter," she muttered. That it had been given over the dustnet was unfortunate but after humanity stopped using vellum all papers felt a bit fake anyways.

"Vale is in dire need of help. Plant monster, Abyss' lab, out of control… Doctor Polendina." She tried to recall the name signed at the end of the letter. Abyss had mentioned him once, she was sure. Wasn't his daughter a golem? Yes, and close friends with Ruby Rose. The doctor himself worked with Abyss, though she wasn't sure exactly what he did.

With a few taps on her scroll she summoned Watts to her room. In the meantime she wondered what it was Abyss had left behind. The letter mentioned that the plant growth had emerged from a dragon egg.

Dragons as a whole were going extinct when she had been young. To think that an egg still survived… it must have been fossilized. A proper life mage, as Abyss was, could bring it back easily enough. Without a soul, however, complications arose. Then again, Abyss specialized in the soul and void. She herself focused on grimm creation and a fair bit of territorial magic, mostly in the realm of corrupting the world to her whims.

But to hear that plants had sprung from a dragon egg and were threatening to slowly eat Vale… she lived in interesting times. It wasn't the most absurd thing she had heard in her life but it was in the upper realms of the list. How would she resolve such a thing?

Off the top of her head she would attempt corrupting it to the forces of grimm and command it to a ritual circle, wherupon she'd annihilate it. She had enough power to turn Mantle to a hellscape, which she'd done to her continent a few ages ago. Though she had no intention of attempting to overpower the godly curse on her or Ozman it was an option she'd never discard. Enough power could do anything, after all.

"You summoned me, Milady?" Watts asked behind her. She didn't bother to look at him, preferring to stare out the window.

"Tell me everything you know about one Doctor Poledina," she said.

"Doctor Polendina was a prominent researcher in Atlas. However, after some backroom dealings regarding a classified project and general Ironwood he was traded into Abyss' employ, where he founded a research division for Nature's Bounty. He seemingly had a daughter, Penny Polendina, at some point in his life, and she has been homeschooled by him, kept close all her life. I can tell you about some of the projects he's worked on if that interests you."

"I'm not," she turned to him. "He's sent a request for my aid in defeating an experiment gone rogue. A dragon egg underwent a transfusion of nature affinity thanks to Abyss. After his departure it cracked and a cancerous plant-like being emerged. It's been slowly growing throughout the main lab. Thus far nothing has been able to stop it. I am apparently the first of a list of 'drastic measures' Polendina has been forced to take."

"I… see." Watts looked down briefly before meeting her eyes. "I am sorry, Milady. I don't believe I'll be of any help if Doctor Polendina has been unable to find a solution."

"That's fine. I expected little," she turned back away, having lost interest in him. "Currently only myself or Ozpin are capable of combating this unless there is some unknown mundane method of stopping the creature. I doubt it, personally."

"Of course. Then shall I take my leave?"

"Yes." The door opened and shut softly.

On one hand this whole matter sounded tiresome. She was old, preferring to sit in her tower and idle about, acting only through her followers, those she recruited still being hot blooded and willing to rush about Remnant.

On the other hand this was a genuine problem, not one of her and Ozpin's feuds or another petty war. Left unchecked this seemed as though it would grow out of proportion, in this case literally.

She may be properly immortal but she had no desire to be consumed by a plant for eternity. She and Ozpin had talked of what might happen if humanity were to be driven extinct. Likely the gods would return, if only to see what had happened. Or, if not that, then he would be trapped elsewhere and she would live alone with her grimm until she went insane.

… Humanity could handle it for now. If it was as bad as the scientist claimed then she would be forced to intervene. Until then, however, she'd wait and watch.


	24. Chapter 24

**AN: Going on my little road trip did not help at all. In fact, moving might have made things worse. But that's not a problem for you. I'm dealing with it. Living in new places is just weird for awhile until you get used to it. **

**I've said this before, I think, but I've planned out how to end this and I really want to do it right. So updates may be sparse (as they have been… for like two months) but I'm going to try hard to end this in a memorable, and more importantly meaningful, way. **

**Quick reminder: This story isn't abandoned until I say it's abandoned. Even if updates are sparse, until I put a note saying that I'm quitting the story it's not dead. I'm just having a hard time writing right now.**

… **Alright, I already wrote all of that AN before I got to this specific part. It's been a week since I sent this to my editor and he hasn't gotten back to me. I tried to do it myself but google spellcheck and grammarly only go so far. Really hoping he's alright. **

[|||| =**LEVEL 24**= ||||]

"-Thanks for listening, and I hope to be back soon," I finished. I looked up at the Simurgh's stoic face. "Got that?" She nodded. "Good. Now you have your orders. This is the most important thing I'll ever have you do. Go." I opened a portal and waved her through it. It closed behind her and I stood in silence…

"Man I hope this works." I muttered. The house was silent around me. Nobody but me was home.

It felt lonely…

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Don't you have anything better to do?" The penguin asked me.

"No," I said plainly. I finished off my drink. "Another, please." After having that bath with Ainz, a bit of a weird experience since I'd never bathed with a man before, if Ainz could be considered a man. It was relaxing and I felt like relaxing more.

"I think you have a problem. Only Shalltear drinks this much."

"I'm not actually getting drunk right now. I just want a quiet place to sit down for awhile."

"What?! Then why are you ordering all of my good stuff?!" He looked at me accusingly.

"Because I like the taste. Besides, I am paying, aren't I?" The penguin wavered for a moment and then pushed me another bottle of the good stuff, though not without an indulging sigh. I didn't question how the penguin could sigh just like how he didn't ask why I was lazing around a bar at one PM.

I wasn't dodging any responsibilities for once. I just wanted a quiet place to laze around and the bar happened to be empty. Well, except for the mushroom man in the corner but he was very nearly a literal wallflower. Wallfungus… I knew that he was the normal bartender but if a penguin was willing to give me drinks I was willing to drink them… Some days my life made sense. This wasn't one of those days.

"So… since you're not leaving I guess I have to talk to you." The penguin pulled up a stool and stood on top of it, putting his flippers on the bar.

"No you don't. Why can't the fungus guy bartend? Is it his day off or something?"

"He only works weekends. At times I, the great Eclair, must lower myself to bartending. But someday, _someday_, I will sit upon the throne of Nazerick and all shall bow before me! YES! This is just but one step in my grand plan!" I stared at the penguin.

"Sure, man. Good luck with that."

"PAH! Luck is for those who need it! It's only a matter of time!" I nodded along with him. "Ah, but first my duties! … So why are you here?"

"I'm just resting."

"Ah, I see, I see… why?" I blinked. Why was I resting?

"I guess I just don't have anything better to do. I could read something, play a game, go slay some monsters, or anything but I just feel like sitting somewhere quiet. What better place to do that than here?"

"TRUE! The bar is the finest place in not only Nazerick but the WORLD! Fit for divinity themselves!" I sipped the ale. It was sweet. It was better than the wine at some of the parties Yasaka dragged me to so the penguin wasn't wrong. Eclair, he said his name was?

"So which of the supreme beings made you?"

"Ankoro Mochi Mochi, of course!" That was a weird ass name for a person but alright.

"Can you tell me about him?"

"HER!" He yelled. "Mochi Mochi was a wonderful, kind, and utterly perfect lady of class and refinement! Her skills in the culinary arts have influenced Nazerick to this very day! Myself and Pestonya have upheld her legacy with VALOR and PRIDE!"

"You're clearly enthusiastic about this but could you quiet down a little? I came here for peace and quiet, not to get yelled at."

"Of course. Sorry, Mister Mavros."

"Thanks. So Mochi Mochi was a chef? I thought all of the supreme beings were more focused on combat."

"Most of them were. Mochi Mochi, of course, was recruited for her immense mastery of cooking! Her works were so fine that, when consumed, filled Nazerick's supreme beings with passion and vigor beyond that of any norm! Besides that she was a stellar mage, though the greatest mage of Nazerick is and was Lord Ainz."

"Magical food?" I hadn't heard that one before. The agriculture I made for Nature's bounty sort of counted but that wasn't too edible and was more along the lines of magical plants than magical cooking.

"Indeed! I have some skill in the art. Care for a dish?"

"Sure. Surprise me."

"I shall!" The penguin excitedly waddled off behind a door to do his thing. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. I had six hours before I needed to meet with Yasaka. I still had plans for Earth Bet on my phone. I selected them all and moved them to a folder. I was still pissed about how wrong things had gone there. Fucking Taylor… I tried, at least. That counted for something. And I still got the Simurgh under my control.

Nevermind that. I didn't want to think about it. It was a failure to me and I had to focus on other things now. Should I pick up a gift for Kunou? She would probably be happy to just watch a show and eat some snacks. Yasaka wanted me to go celebrate the end of the Old Satan Faction with her. I wouldn't be doing any politicking myself but I did need to have a chat with Gabriel. It might not be any of my business what she was scared about but I still wanted to know. I just had a bad feeling about it.

Besides, new runes to learn? I was pretty interested in that.

Finally Eclair waddled out of the kitchen, a plate balanced on a flipper. "Here, an oven baked, wood stove, dragon meat pizza!" I wasn't expecting that.

"Dragon meat?" I looked at the pizza. Instead of pepperoni it had salami-like sheets of meat layered over it. It seemed kind of like muscle, devoid of any visible fat.

"Indeed! Poison dragon meat, though be assured that it's entirely safe to eat, not that actual poison dragon venom will harm you I'm sure. The dough is simple but the cheese is from demonic goats, giving it a spicy tang that goes with the poison dragon meat. There are other ingredients if you're interested in hearing about them."

I was already taking a bite. I gave a grunt of surprise at the flavor. It was REALLY spicy pizza. After a moment, though, the spice faded away to a much nicer burn. "I like it." I said, grinning at it. I'd never had a spicy pizza before.

"HA! Of course! My cooking skills are unrivaled and someday I shall stand at the PINNACLE OF COOKING!" I let him yell this time in favor of taking a few more bites.

"Could I get something sweet to go with this?"

"AND I-hm? Oh! Yes, of course. Will pineapple juice do? We've also got cranberry juice, lemonade, several kinds of milk, blood…"

"Pineapple juice sounds good." The penguin waddled off again just as a newcomer entered the bar.

"Oh, hello Lord Abyss." The succubus, Albedo, smiled at me. If it wasn't for my ability to read auras I would never have known that she didn't like me.

"Hello, Albedo. Not expecting me?"

"I was not. I'll leave you to your me-"

"No, no, I could use some company. If you were looking for a drink then sit down."

"I really-" I looked into her soul. She wanted a drink. She just didn't want to sit near _me_.

"Sit down." I flicked my wrist and she teleported into the seat next to me. Eclair waddled out of the kitchen again.

"Oh! Albedo! The usual?"

"… Yes please, Eclair." She said, sounding a little strained. He slid me my juice and I took a grateful sip. It did wonders for the spiciness of the dragon pizza.

"So why don't you like me?" I asked Albedo.

"I don't have any opinion on you, frankly, if that's what you mean." She lied.

"Liar. Is it just because I'm not a part of Nazerick? You seem like the only one that doesn't like me around here."

"My dislike for you won't impact my work. I'll obey the commands you've given Lord Ainz." Her aura twitched.

"Ahh, you're inclined to hate me because I've commanded Ainz to stay away from acting freely," she was silent but I was clearly correct here. "Hmm… is it a human thing? I've heard a fair bit about 'puny humans' since I've come here. I'm starting to think that you consider humans lesser than, what do you call yourselves? Heteromorphs?"

"I feel that our goals require methods you consider distasteful. I'm no friend to anyone who hinders my lord." She said, barely holding back from snapping at me. Eclair waddled out with what looked like a cross between a margarita and red wine. Whatever it was it smelled good. I could sense a little blood in it too. I kind of wanted one.

"Fair enough. I wasn't asking when I told him to avoid innocent deaths. To be fair, a lot of goals are made much easier when you've conquered the world. I haven't exactly barred him from that but it's much harder now than it was before I arrived." She nodded and sipped her drink.

"On the other hand, I'm probably Ainz's only friend and I've been helping more than harming by participating in the adventurer's party Ainz set up. That doesn't help balance the scales?"

"You are not loyal to Nazerick. I'm sorry, but I can't accept someone like that as anything more than an acquaintance." She clearly wasn't sorry.

"I see," I thought about that for a moment. Some might have thought that our silence was awkward but I thought that it was more understanding. "Well I'd like to get to know you. You're the foremost of Nazerick's guardians, aren't you? Tell me about that."

"I was made to lead the floor guardians," she said with quiet pride. "It is my duty to manage them and support Lord Ainz whenever possible."

"That's your duty? Administration?"

"And as the final means of defense should invasion come to Nazerick. Of course, I'm of little use against the likes of the supreme beings." She gave me a stink eye at that.

"I see. You must have a lot of free time, then."

"I do not," she sounded almost defensive. "I spend every waking hour looking after my lord and the guardians." I thought about that for a moment.

"You help them in their duties?"

"I do."

"Are you required to do that?"

"No?" She sounded uncertain about that.

"I think I get it. You're something of the mother of Nazerick, keeping everything in order and looking after everyone."

"I-but Lord Ainz is… yes." She was blushing. I smelled blood in the water. Lord Ainz… and calling her the mother of Nazerick.

"Oh? Does someone have a puppy crush?" I grinned at her.

"I am honored to serve my Lord. But I could never serve as his only wife." She said abashedly, a slightly creepy grin coming over her face.

"Right-wait, only?"

"Of course. It's absolutely necessary for Lord Ainz to have more than one wife. Anything less would be absurdly unfit for a supreme being such as him, though his decision in this is absolute of course."

"… Huh." I thought of Ainz, the stiff backed skeleton - hey wait a second.

"How would that work? Would being his wife just be a status symbol or…"

"It would be my duty to… to bear an heir for-" Albedo turned aside and buried her face in her elbow. I heard a muffled squeal come from her. "Ahem, to bear an heir for Ainz." A dreamy expression was over her face.

… This girl was a total weirdo. She knew that he couldn't… do that, right? Maybe with some sort of magic he could briefly be a different race and do the deed. Maybe there was a magic ritual to do that. I was never big on those.

"Is there a ritual to get him to a different race or is it some sort of soul magic?" Albedo's face scrunched up. "I needed to splinter off a bit of my soul to have a kid with Ophis since she's… well it's complicated but-"

"Can't Lord Ainz… no. Nonono, there's a way. Of course there is. It's meant to be." She was almost freaking out. I started getting worried that she was falling into a panic attack. Was she just repressing this until now?

"If things are desperate I can turn him to life, if briefly." I said quickly.

"You can?!" She looked at me with crazed eyes.

"Well yes but-"

"Please, Lord Abyss! Help my lord produce an heir!" She fell off of her seat, knocking it to the floor, and kneeled before me.

"That can be taken VERY out of context-"

"Please!" I sighed.

"Fine. But I'd need to do some experiments. I've never brought a being so close to death back to life before. I could end up permanently making him alive or actually killing him. So I'll need some undead."

"Of course!"

"… Are you going to get back up?"

"Of course." She set the stool up again and smiled brightly, a slightly manic edge to it.

"So thanks for talking to me. It's been nice to have company. But I'm done with my food and I've got to go soon." I didn't have to but Albedo was creeping me out. She reminded me of some of my most ardent followers, who I tried to not think about.

"Of course, Lord Abyss. If you can truly give Nazerick a chance for an heir to Nazerick I would be personally in your debt." She bowed in her seat, managing to be graceful despite her positioning.

"I'll consider it a small favor to a friend. Tell Ainz the good news for me, won't you?"

"Gladly." I teleported out of there and regretted inviting Albedo to chat with me. I really had a hard time noticing the crazies, didn't I? On second thought that was a complete understatement. Everyone I knew was crazy somehow, though I hardly had room to judge.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Mom, he's here!" I heard little footsteps pound on the floor of Yasaka's penthouse. Kunou flew around the corner and smiled brightly as she looked at me.

"I heard, Kunou," Yasaka called from her bedroom. "I'll be there in a second." Her daughter probably didn't hear her. She was too busy squeezing the life out of me after a successful tackle-hug.

"Where are you going this time? More boring parties?" She looked up to me inquisitively.

"Horrible, horrible parties. And you know how pissed she was when I sent a parallel."

"That clone?"

"Yup."

"I think it was worth it! I still have the rune array we made in my bedroom!"

"You didn't have to deal with her glaring and angry letters for two weeks. Your mom's scary when she's angry."

"Good!" The yokai yelled smugly from her room.

"Hmm, did you try kisses?" I grinned a bit.

"I didn't try that, no. In hindsight that probably would have worked."

"Duh," Kunou got on her tiptoes and pulled my head down to her mouth. "She's a softie to hugs and kisses! I set the kitchen on fire once and she forgave me after I kissed her cheek!" I was pretty sure that Kunou's crocodile tears were more effective than hugs and kisses but…

"I'll keep that in mind." We shared a grin before Yasaka finally showed herself, looking beautiful as always in another kimono, soft grey this time.

"Can we do more with runes later?" Kunou begged, her ears laying flat on her head and her eyes widening. Everything about her changed to look as cute as possible. Even her tails got a little droopy.

"Of course we will." The pitiful look fell from her and she smirked victoriously, like I'd refuse if she just asked normally.

"Sweet!" She raced off again towards her room to do something, already knowing the procedure, and Yasaka grabbed my arm to walk me to the portal room.

"The Satans are all there so at least say hello to Sirzechs. He's hosting this, after all. He'll make an inspiring speech, everyone will cheer, and I managed to wrangle a promise out of him that he won't make you do anything public. He'll thank you and sing a few praises and everyone moves on." She pinched me as I began to zone out. I muttered an apology that she ignored. The portal room opened for us and we waited at the edges of the circle.

"You'll also need to talk to Rias Gremory and the Red Dragon Emperor, Issei Hyodo." I groaned. "He's not that bad," she said a bit defensively. "He's a nice boy, even if he is oddly obsessed with breasts and his harem. And don't groan. You, at least, don't have a pair that he'll glue his eyes to." She closed an arm around her breasts and sighed, drawing my eyes to them.

"Oh, and Michael and Azazel are there. Say hello and _don't punch Azazel_." She growled.

"We're over that. I threatened him, he cursed out my mother, he punched me, I punched him. All's balanced. I actually met him and his secretary and first mistress a month ago. Penemue, I think her name was."

"She's also his granddaughter, just so you know," I made an uncomfortable noise and decided not to think about that little fact. I didn't know why I expected differently from a fallen angel. At least he was less debaucherous than the greek gods. "So, questions?" I saw the crystal of the room turn red, a sign that the teleport spell was ready.

"What do I do if Ophis shows up again?"

"_Don't_."

"Got it. Hug her and shuffle her off somewhere so that the devils stop screaming. I'll break out the emergency cookies if I have to. Last question, want to play runes with Kunou and I later?" She needed to think about that for a moment.

"Alright." She smiled at me and tapped the crystal. And then we were in a different place. The hooded person in the corner lowered their hands and we walked ahead.

After a while all the devils' portal corridors looked the same. Plain room, fancy corridor, maybe some art, and boom, you were in a fancy dance room or a lounge or wherever the meeting was taking place. If I were to make a portal room I'd do something fancy, draw some runes on the wall or put a fake sky above someone's head. Maybe I'd add some floating candles like Helen does for her dining hall. Gold and silks and fine carpeting were expensive but just not that unique as far as decorations go.

It at least made it easier to make my way through whoever's manor I was in. Sirzechs' probably, since Yasaka mentioned that he was hosting. Then again, Sirzechs probably owned a manor for every day of the year with how rich the Gremories were. And Satans weren't known for being poor.

I tracked down my first target quickly. I just looked for the largest crowd of people. "Sirzechs!" I smiled my fakest smile and he smiled back, the groupies around him shuffling out of the way for me.

"Abyss! Wonderful to see you again. Thank you for your help at the invasion."

"It was no issue. I was just in the neighborhood." I wanted to move on and play with Kunou already. At least I only had to attend these parties once every few weeks.

"Visiting the underworld? Well, feel free to visit anytime. And maybe let Serafall know next time. She'd love to see you. She's actually across the manor, giving a show to the kids."

"I might go see her. Thanks, Sirzechs." He nodded and returned to chatting with the groupies. I heard the word 'taxes' and 'abolishment' before I left. I didn't want to be a part of that conversation in the slightest.

The next person was going to be similarly easy to find. I sensed with my aura for a moment and looked towards the lustiest person in the room, who happened to feel like scales and raw power. Next to him was clearly Sirzechs' sister, Rias, who felt like force, erosion, and… attachment? Oh, possession. That made much more sense for a devil.

I walked closer to them before I got distracted. A short girl with white hair was raiding a table full of food and wines for sweets. I saw at least three croissants piled on a plate. She felt like a yokai and had an active aura. Touki. Observing her was the tipping factor that made me approach her.

"So you're Koneko, then." I walked up behind her and subtly pulsed my aura, pushing amusement and interest into her. The girl choked on her food and dropped her plate. I caught it with magic and floated it onto the table.

"Who… you." She glared at me.

"Me," I affirmed. "I don't suppose you've heard from Kuroka?"

"She's pregnant."

"So she has talked to you. Well, to formally introduce myself, I'm Abyss, and I suppose I'm your step-brother now. Nice to meet you."

"… Koneko." She was suspicious.

"Did I do something wrong?" My smile fell a bit.

"You use touki." She sounded agitated now.

"I call it aura, but yes. What of it?"

"Using that will kill you. It's why sis went crazy." I stared at her. That was so ridiculous that I actually sent out a probe with mind magic to make sure she wasn't crazy. She wasn't.

"I've no clue where you heard that but it's very, very wrong. Touki is the force of your soul made physical, a manifestation of it, you might say. You can't actually 'use' it any more than you can use an arm. It's always there. If you're not using it you have to be actively suppressing it."

"Mh." She didn't agree with me.

"Look, aura isn't what I wanted to talk about, though I'd be happy to give you a lesson or two, show that it's not going to make you go crazy and kill people. I just want to say hello, maybe get to know you."

"… Want a croissant?" She held one out to me and I smiled as I took a bite. Then I grimaced.

"What the heck is this? Cranberry?" I looked down at whatever was in it and yup, that was definitely cranberry. "What sort of psychos are cooking here?" And when I looked up Koneko was gone, speaking to Issei.

"WHAT?! HEY, BASTARD!" I groaned.

"Oh, fuck off." I muttered. Yasaka could be mad at me all she wanted. From that yell alone I knew that there was no way I was talking to that guy. I teleported towards Gabriel and made my way through the crowd. I was going to ditch the party as soon as possible. Maybe hugs and kisses actually worked to cool Yasaks's temper? I sure hoped so.

Gabriel and Michael were outside with some people with magic-laden souls, probably magicians of some breed. Azazel was loudly flirting with some devil lady at a bar.

"Quit it, or are you really up to date with underworld fashion?" The lady asked, blushing slightly.

"I assure you, I know how to take off _every_ piece of fashion." He hit the lady with a half smile and a suggestive look. She laughed and blushed harder. Then he noticed me.

"Abyss! Is the miss taking a nap again?"

"No, she's playing with her new pet."

"Her… what?"

"Pet dragon, a feral one I think. I'm doing my best to pretend it doesn't exist."

"Uh-huh. So I heard that you got a sacred gear from this whole old satan faction." I grinned a bit. I wondered if he'd be interested.

"Sephiroth Graal." His eyes widened.

"I ever mention how we're best friends? Because we totally are!"

"That's how I know you'll forgive me for locking it into a trophy room. It makes for a fantastic coffee table prop."

"Okay, don't screw with me here. You know how often a longinus comes around? Like twice a century! Work with me here!"

"I'll loan it to you after I do some stuff. But I've got a condition." I leaned forwards and put my hands on the table. "It's broken into three pieces. I've got all of them and they're working together but there's a problem. The gear can't alter the soul of it's wielder. I think it's a safety measure. Don't want to rip the soul of the wielder apart, you know. I need you to deactivate that safety so I can tear a parasite out of my soul."

Azazel stared at me.

"Sure," he kicked back in his chair and shrugged. "Just bring it by and I'll study it. It might take awhile, though. All of the sacred gears are unique. Some are prisons, some are artificial souls, some are magical generators, and so forth. Long story short, let me study it first. So… gimme?" He held his hand out and made a grabbing motion.

I pulled the gear out of my soul and handed it to him. It took the form of a shiny gold cup encrusted with jewels. "Shiny," he smirked, barely hiding his greed. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can." He stood up and, clutching his new toy to his chest, just about skipped away from me. "See ya later, best friend!" I shook my head and glanced at the lady he was flirting with a minute ago. She looked pissed at me. Awfully brave of her considering that I could probably smite her entire species. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

Last stop, Gabriel and Michael. Then I can do things I actually _want_ to do.

I made my way at a casual stroll towards the two, glimpsing Yasaka out of the corner of my vision speaking to a pale woman, a chilly aura around her. It was dark, cruel, and cold. I was pretty sure that was Mab… Didn't Ophis steal cookies from her? Note to self, ask her about cookies.

The minor god Gabriel was talking to, an Indian asura with horns like a buffalo's, looked nervously over her shoulder at me enough that she finally turned around to see me. I waved happily at her and she grimaced. Then Michael noticed and, to his sister's relief, stepped forwards to speak to me.

"Abyss, It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Michael, as I believe you know." We shook hands for a moment. His was a bit stiff.

"Of course, though I've mostly talked to your sister as I'm sure you know."

"Yes… I do." Oh right, the video of our first meeting.

"Not that. I meant the last time we talked." He blinked once and blushed.

"No, I was… nevermind. It's come to my attention that we have some things to discuss in private."

"Right now, then? Because this isn't exactly the place and I have an appointment to get to soon. How about we meet tomorrow?"

"Perfectly fine. In fact, would you mind if we spoke in heaven?"

"I don't mind at all. I've always wondered what it looks like up there." He smiled.

"I'll see you then. For now, though, would you care to meet Rambha?" The man smiled at me stiffly.

"Maybe some other time." I smiled.

"Then good luck with your appointment." We smiled at each other once more and I walked off. Yasaka was looking at me suspiciously and I hurried a little harder, almost bumping into Ajuka Beelzebub on the way out.

I opened up the door to the portal room and made my own, slipping through space to Yasaka's apartment gleefully.

"I'm back!" I announced.

"Finally!" The girl raced across the apartment to me, her fox tails swishing excitedly behind her, the outer ones batting against the walls weakly. "Can we do more runes now?!"

"Put on a cartoon. I'll grab some snacks." She cheered as she ran back towards the living room. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a few sodas and food. I hadn't ever had dried seaweed before but it looked crispy and would probably do as a snack.

"Adventure time?" I asked as I walked close to Kunou, who was moving the coffee table away from the couch. The show she had on was something I had never seen before.

"I don't always like the older stuff." She puffed her cheeks out childishly.

"Sure, sure. Here. Your mom isn't one for unhealthy food, is she?"

"But iced tea is unhealthy, isn't it?" She asked confusedly.

"Only the really sugary kinds. But I was eating way worse things than you when I was younger. Ruby used to live off of cookies and sugary cereal."

"Ruby?" I winced.

"My younger sister. I'll tell you about her later." Kunou was smart enough to recognize how I didn't want to talk about her and simply nodded.

"So you mentioned logic gates last time. Also, how do you make delayed effects?" I grinned.

"Logic gates are something I snagged from engineering. Here," I pulled a textbook from my soul space and dropped it on the table, flipping it to the right page, the one with pictures. "And as for delayed effects, what have you tried so far?"

"Making longer lines. I tried spirals but I spent ten minutes on a line and it only held off the effects for a second or two. Maybe one and a quarter, to be specific."

"You have to use obstacles."

"Huh?"

"Slow down the magic running through the runes with an impediment. If it's ink on paper like we're using that means adding a few dashes through the lines. The thicker the dash the longer the pause, though you could also add more lines. I use lines thick enough to last one second and add more dashes for more time."

"Oh, that's like the opposite of onmyōdō!" She said, staring at the logic gate diagrams. Her tails were still swishing behind her.

"What do you mean?"

"You're supposed to _never_ cross any lines in onmyōdō or everything goes boom."

"I thought they went boom if you mixed in mundane blood to your ink?"

"That too. It also explodes if your scribbles are completely circular, if they're full of breaks at the wrong points, if you design it to release too much energy… onmyōdō seals explode a lot."

"Runes don't explode. They just don't work half the time and you have to do everything again."

"Bleurgh, so boring."

"Can onmyōdō break space and time?"

"Yes!"

"Can it hold a portal in a fixed portion of space?"

"I-no, well, not for long but yeah!"

"Runes can do that."

"Can your runes fit on a paper?!"

"Of course not. That's what enchantments are for!"

"_Onmyōdō _can do everything an enchantment can and more." Kunou's tails swished while her ears folded down, a smug expression crossing her face.

"Throw some water at those scribbles and they're toast. They also rely on a divine power source."

"Who has just a bunch of water laying around?"

"Mages." She grimaced and sighed shortly.

"That's why combat onmyōdō talismans are stored in pocket spaces." A familiar voice said behind me. I stood a little straighter and Kunou swallowed thickly.

Show time. Like Kunou claimed, kisses solved everything.

I stood up, faced Yasaka, and gave her a peck at the edge of her lips. Her tails stood straight. "You're just on time! Kunou was learning runes. I'm sure you have a lot to contribute." I gently swept her feet from under her and she was too stunned to fight back, just as planned. I gave a look to Kunou and she started babbling about runes versus onmyōdō and some of her ideas on using both or combining them. I chimed in from time to help out in overwhelming Yasaka.

By some miracle Kunou managed to draw her mother's attention to the runes, rather than me. I gave her a grin and we kept working together. It took hardly any time at all before Yasaka's own expertise was added to our experiments.

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Shouldn't there be a horizont…-al line here?" Kunou paused mid-sentence to yawn, showing off her canines. Her head was resting on her right hand and she was slowly sinking lower to the table by the minute.

"No, it can be slanted. Keeping it horizontal just makes it simpler to do, a shorthand I tend to use." I explained. Yasaka was only half listening, more interested in taking pictures every few minutes of her sleepy daughter.

"Oh… why not teach it that way, then?"

"Because it's really easy to mess up."

"Mh… can you show me another rune? I think I've got this one." The girl really needed to go to sleep but I doubted that she'd just go to her bed. She was too eager to spend time with me, even if it wasn't productive for her… ah, I've got a trick.

"Sure, but look closely." I encouraged her. Her head rose from her hand with a glimmer of interest. I started drawing a compact rune, keeping the lines close together, and she leaned in close. Just as planned, she laid her arms on the table and leaned close. It only took a moment before she dropped her head on its side, staring at my hands drifting across the paper. I wrote in silence.

Half a minute later she was out cold, snoozing on the table. Yasaka quietly snickered and stood up, circling the table to pick up her child. "So sweet." She whispered with a smile.

"Should I leave now or…"

"You're staying the night."

I wasn't against that.


End file.
